South Africa's Child Support Grant (CSG), while serving as the country's most extensive poverty alleviation instrument for children, is currently inadequate to address the pervasive issues of child hunger and malnutrition. This concerning assessment comes from the latest Child Gauge Report, released by the Children's Institute at the University of Cape Town.

The report highlights that despite reaching over 13 million children in 2024, the CSG's monetary value remains below the food poverty line. Currently set at R560 per month, the grant falls significantly short of the R796 minimum income required for a person to meet basic nutritional needs. The Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group calculates the actual cost of meeting a child's nutritional requirements to be between R826 and R1,085 monthly, depending on age, leaving millions vulnerable to hunger.

Historically, the introduction of the CSG in 1998 led to a notable decline in child poverty rates. The report indicates a reduction in the proportion of children living below the food poverty line from 53% in 2003 to 33% in 2019, largely due to the CSG’s massive expansion and its early effectiveness in poverty reduction.

However, the progress was severely undermined by the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, which saw child food poverty rise sharply to 39%. While rates stabilized in 2021, they increased again in most provinces in 2022 and remained elevated through 2024. This equates to an additional 1.2 million children below the food poverty line and 3.1 million children below the upper-bound poverty line compared to 2019.

The consequences of child hunger and insufficient nutrition are severe. The 2021-2023 National Food and Nutrition Security Survey revealed that 29% of children under five suffer from stunting. Hunger increases risks of stunting, overweight, and micronutrient deficiencies, even when households do not explicitly report food scarcity.

Provincial disparities in child poverty are stark. Over 75% of children in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, and North West live in poverty, with Gauteng and the Western Cape also experiencing substantial increases. Poverty is most concentrated in rural former homelands, with 86% of children below the upper-bound poverty line in 2024, and urban areas also seeing sharp rises.

Concerns persist regarding the slow take-up of the CSG among young children. Dr. Katherine Hall noted that 48% of eligible infants did not receive the grant in 2020 due to barriers such as eligibility confusion, lack of essential documentation, and difficulty accessing SASSA offices.

In conclusion, while social grants remain a lifeline for many poor households, the widening gap between the CSG and the real cost of raising a child necessitates urgent intervention. Researchers recommend increasing the CSG to at least match the food poverty line to effectively combat child hunger and malnutrition in South Africa.