Cape Town — The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) wants food insecurity in the Eastern Cape to be declared a disaster, wing to the disparity between child grants and the poverty line.
According to the Commission’s Dr Eileen Carter, the disparity between child grants and food poverty is massive and that interventions should be put in place in order to address the crisis, eNCA reported.
“This was an inquiry that we held last year in the Eastern Cape, because of the prevalence of what is called severe child malnutrition in the province, Now that has occurred basically because the children are not getting access to enough food. So the inquiry was held and we called to the fore a lot of stakeholders to give evidence under oath,” she said.
The South African Human Rights Commission wants food insecurity in the Eastern Cape declared a disaster. The Commission’s Dr Eileen Carter says there is a huge disparity between the child grants and the food poverty line. #eNCA #NewsLink #DStv403 pic.twitter.com/AglXcW5GGw
— eNCA (@eNCA) November 10, 2023
Carter further explained that the recommendations made meant the child support grant should be upped to meet the poverty food line.
“We said the child support grant must upped to at least meet the poverty food line. The amount currently is R510, but the food poverty is R760. So, that would be the minimum amount that is required for us to meet the nutritional needs of children, and as you can see, there is already a big disparity between those two,” she added.
The Commission’s Eastern Cape office is launching the report on Child Malnutrition.
Join us on @SAHRC1 Youtube livestream.https://t.co/KCafMrbdv8— SAHRCommission (@SAHRCommission) November 9, 2023
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
