Newsletter 79-South Africa’s welfare state-9 July 2010
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This newsletter gives a municipal review of the four social grants with the highest number of beneficiaries in 2007: the child support grant, old-age grant, disability grant, and foster care grant.
There are currently 13 958 894 social grant beneficiaries in South Africa. There are some 12 803 000 people who work, of whom five million are income taxpayers. (Many people who do not pay income tax pay VAT.) Although a municipal breakdown of social grant beneficiaries was only available for 2007, a review shows that the child support grant makes up the bulk of all the social grants.
In 2007, the number of the four highest social grant beneficiaries was 11 882 170. Of these, 7 863 841 (66%) were recipients of child support grants and 2 195 018 (18%) of old-age grants. The disability and foster care grants accounted for 1 422 808 (12%) and 400 503 (3%) respectively.
In 2007, Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality (Port Elizabeth) had a total of 187 525 grant beneficiaries receiving the top four social grants. There were 104 232 (56%) child support grant beneficiaries, 46 124 (25%) old-age, 36 726 (19%) disability, and 443 (0.2%) foster care grant beneficiaries.
There were 503 325 social grant beneficiaries in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. Of these, 326 671 (65%) received child support grants. The old-age grant beneficiaries made up 119 850 (24%) of the total beneficiaries while the disability and foster care grants had 56 172 (11%) and 632 (0.1%) beneficiaries respectively.
The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (Pretoria) had a total of 294 495 grant beneficiaries. The child support grant made up 195 597 (66%) of this total while the old-age grant made up 66 727 (23%). The disability and foster care grants respectively had 31 550 (11%) and 621 (0.2%) beneficiaries.
A total of 363 782 social grant beneficiaries were in the City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (East Rand), of whom child support grant beneficiaries were 235 104 (65%). The numbers of old-age, disability and foster care grant beneficiaries were 81 226 (22%), 46 794 (13%), and 658 (0.2%) respectively.
The eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality (Durban) had 577 796 grant beneficiaries. There were 350 016 (61%) child support grant and 133 616 (23%) old-age grant beneficiaries. The numbers of disability and foster care grant beneficiaries were 92 977 (16%) and 1 187 (0.2%) respectively.
A total of 426 057 social grant beneficiaries were in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality, the child support grant making up 240 047 (56%). The numbers of old-age, disability, and foster care grants were 115 603 (27%), 68 873 (16%), and 1 534 (0.4%) respectively.
In the Motheo District Municipality (Bloemfontein) there were 179 462 social grant beneficiaries. The child support grant accounted for 115 992 (65%) of the total. The old age, disability, and foster care grant beneficiaries were 40 847 (23%), 21 386 (12%), and 1 237 (0.1%) respectively.
Capricorn District Municipality (Polokwane) had a total of 385 910 social grant beneficiaries, among whom the child support grant accounted for 286 031 (69%) and the old-age grant 94 823 (25%). The disability and the foster care grants numbered 22 551 (6%) and 505 (0.1%) respectively.
Nationally, the largest proportion of grant beneficiaries was 66% for the child support grant. Capricorn had the largest proportion of child support grant beneficiaries at 69%. Nelson Mandela Bay and Cape Town had the lowest proportion of the child support grant beneficiaries, both at 56%.
-Nachi Majoe
