Budget 2018 - UNICEF South Africa highlights its implications for children

More than R1.2 billion has been aside to combat violence against women and children and to smooth transfers to social welfare NGOs that deliver critical services

PRETORIA, South Africa, February 23, 2018/ --

UNICEF South Africa acknowledges the South African Government’s commitment to ensuring a balance between financial stability and ensuring the progressive realisation of children’s social and economic rights.

UNICEF is pleased to note that total government expenditure is projected to increase by an average of 1.9 per cent in real terms over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) period and spending on some of the services that benefit children will grow faster than overall expenditure over the next three years. This means that transfers to non-profit organisations (mainly to deliver education and child and social welfare services) will increase by 5.3 per cent, household transfers will increase by 4.7 per cent. In addition, the child support grant and child care and dependency grant will increase by around 3 per cent, and overall spending on the social development and health sectors will increase by 2.3 per cent. At the same time, more than R1.2 billion has been aside to combat violence against women and children and to smooth transfers to social welfare NGOs that deliver critical services at the provincial and district levels. This is indicative of the government’s vision that linking cash to the poorest and most marginalised children combined with intensified care and protection is likely to deliver larger and positive social benefits. While these developments are encouraging, UNICEF is concerned about specific funding challenges for child-focused services, which may impact the realisation of children’s social and economic rights. Some of these include:

• Funding cuts to provincial baseline budgets, thus increasing pressure on service delivery departments to reduce essential services for children;
• Limited support to expand early childhood development services and less financing of NPOs;
• Reduced capital investments in education and health at the provincial level, which may delay the roll-out of direly-needed infrastructure in under-resourced areas;
• Unpaid provincial bills, especially in the health sector, which, given the country’s current health challenges, remain a concern.In view of the budget challenges, we welcome the reference that was made in the State of the Nation Address for the corporate sector to complement government spending on child care and social services for children to enhance an accelerated investment in human capital over time.  

Recognising that investment in children’s services takes time to produce tangible results, UNICEF stands ready to assist the government, civil society and corporate sector to better the lives of children in South Africa.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of UN Information Centre in Pretoria (UNIC)