by Christine Muhigana
Government budgets matter, and more so for children who need the social, financial, and economic support to grow into well-functioning and productive citizens. In South Africa, the Constitution entrenches the rights of children – principally Section 28 – and is aligned with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
The current reality, as indicated in part by the Minister of Finance in his 2023 Budget speech is that South Africa faces severe challenges including disrupted electricity supply, slow domestic economic growth, rising government debt, and the effects of climate change that has seen natural disasters that caused the displacement of scores of children. These factors lessen the availability of resources for child-focused government programmes, because of the need to divert resources to addressing them.
On the positive front, the 2023 Budget proposal to increase budget allocations towards roads, school, health and water infrastructure repairs and maintenance as well as building new infrastructure is good news for children. Also encouraging is government’s intention to repair the ailing rail infrastructure and build rural bridges which will alleviate transport costs and pressures that poor households endure, especially in the context of rising energy costs.
Investment in this infrastructure also helps to address immediate safety concerns for children, which include poor roads and unnecessary exposure to accident risks as well as safe access to schools and clinics. In addition, the introduction of bulk water infrastructure projects planned in the various parts of the country will improve access to clean water and reduce water-borne diseases. In this context of high levels of violence against children and women, the introduction of 5 000 police trainees is also a step in the right direction.
The government has continued its commitment to the country’s “social wage” (inclusive of free basic education, health and free basic services as well as social grants) and complementary services that involve children directly or indirectly. Also encouraging is that the increases that have been allocated towards social grants – including child grants – are inflation-aligned.
This represents a departure from social protection budgets during the past two years that saw real declines in the purchasing power of social grants. These increases will help improve child nutrition, health and schooling outcomes as well as impacting lifelong productivity and earnings at the household level.
While continued calls for the alignment of child grants with the food poverty line remain valid and necessary, at a minimum, the grants’ purchasing power must be protected in view of the debilitating effect of rising food prices.
Amidst the good news in Budget 2023, there are two concerning developments. The first is that the non-allocation of a substantive budget for the Social Relief of Distress Grant beyond 2023 raises uncertainties for all present and future recipients. This possible non-allocation could be seen as respecting the unfolding national conversation about the introduction of a permanent Basic Income Grant for the poor. However, this does not inspire confidence or certainty for the millions of children who are dependent on unemployed parents receiving a supplementary income to meet their most basic needs.
Secondly, the deferred decision on allocations for the Public Service Wage Bill has a potential to disrupt spending plans of departments if the settlement is higher than expected. Public servants withholding labour due to wage disputes is bad news for children’s access to services, and because the overall envelope has not been decided, it is not clear how any increases will be absorbed in the national and provincial budgets. Neither is it clear what additional trade-offs must be made to accommodate public wage agreements. The government and public servants need to come together to ensure positive outcomes for the children and guarantee that quality public services will continue to be rendered.
Finally, while a concerted effort was made to preserve social spending for children, proposed budget allocations for basic education and health are not sufficient to address quality deficits in these foundational sectors. These maintenance budgets are unlikely to boldly address quality challenges, and Budget 2023 misses an opportunity to consolidate children’s rights to quality education and health services.
Budget 2023 does however demonstrate sufficient good intent and action to inspire hope that children’s socio-economic rights can be effectively realised. Unicef South Africa stands ready to continue working with sector departments and the National Treasury to ensure that the existing socio-economic challenges faced by our children are met.
* Muhigana is country representative, Unicef South Africa
* The views expressed are not necessarily the views of IOL or Independent Media.
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