POLOKWANE – The so-called Child Support Grant is a disastrous policy with devastating moral and social implications and has a direct bearing on the high incidence of teenage pregnancies, child abuse, child molestation, child neglect, poverty and the shameful low level of protection for children in South Africa.

The Chairperson for the TAU-SA Northern Region, Mr Dries Joubert, says in a statement released here that the TAU–SA is worried about the social implications of the Child Support Grant, because the grant reduces children to the level of an income-generating commodity, undermines family discipline, breaks up families, creates the conditions for girls to become prostitutes and entrenches poverty in women and young girls.

“It is an HIV/STD spreading machine and the most effective system in the world to ensure that women and young girls stay pregnant, poor and uneducated.”

The statement says it would seem as if the elaborate social grant system of the government forms part of voter coercion – Zimbabwe style. Some farm employees complained that “people at the payout points told beneficiaries that they will be removed from the list if they don’t vote ANC.” Mr Joubert challenged the National Minister of Social Development to refute this claim.

He says that, as a result of the grant, children are no longer seen as a gift from God, but as a commodity that is used to generate money.

“No wonder that child abuse, child molestation and child neglect are some of the biggest problems in South Africa, where poverty is at an all-time high.

“When the value of a child is reduced to the value of a bag of maize meal, no law in the world will protect that child against abuse. The farming community is concerned about the level of protection available for rural children.”

Mr Joubert says the Child Support Grant creates teenage income generators. Poor families have little choice other than to force their young daughters to have sex in order to produce a child - worth R170 per month.

“These young teenage mothers – still children themselves – will not be able to look well after their R170-worth babies and the next generation will pay the price for this disastrous policy. It is no wonder that South Africa has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the world. It pays children to have children! For a 13-year-old girl, R170 per month sounds like a lot of pocket money.

“Parents can no longer discipline children, because in many cases the same girl child is the sole generator of income for the family.

“Some of the older people in villages complain that young girls do not use the grant money to care for their babies, but rather use the money to purchase expensive clothes.

“Men like the young girls with their smart clothes and make-up. Mature men misuse the innocence of young girls and pay them as little as R10 for sex,” says Joubert. He added that the grant effectively removes any incentive for young women to improve themselves. Many young girls drop out of school as they become pregnant with their first child. Very few of them ever complete basic schooling and fewer still will further their studies.

Mr Joubert says the TAU-SA supports all actions to reduce poverty. To this end, the economic empowerment of all citizens is the solution.