JOHANNESBURG - In his State of the Nation Address last year, President Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged that more needs to be done to address hunger and inequality, especially among women and children.
He emphasised government's commitment to social protection, noting that around 60 percent of the national budget is spent on the social wage, including health, education, social protection and public employment programmes.
Ramaphosa said that more than 28 million unemployed and vulnerable people receive social grants.
But ahead of his 2026 address, has the state’s commitment to social protection translated into real change on the ground?
Dr Kelle Howson, a senior researcher on workers’ rights and social security, said these commitments have not resulted in meaningful progress for vulnerable communities.
Howson points to a continuation of austerity policies that have eroded social spending in real terms.
"Most egregiously, National Treasury is actively working to reduce the number of people receiving social grants, by placing conditions on the South African Social Security Agency's operating budget, requiring it to implement draconian and flawed means-testing and identity verification procedures which will exclude many of the most vulnerable," Howson said.
She said that although the social grant system has historically played a significant role in reducing extreme poverty, its impact is now being eroded.
About 5.4 percent of GDP is allocated to social protection, compared with an average of 8.5 percent among peer countries.
Coverage is also lower, reaching about 63.4 percent of the population, compared with an average of 71.2 percent among upper middle-income countries.
"We need our tax system and social protection system to be much more redistributive," Howson said.
Social grants failing to keep pace with living costs
Howson says existing social grants are increasingly inadequate in protecting households from rising living costs.
The Child Support Grant (CSG) has declined in value relative to the food poverty line, falling from about 90 percent in 2006 to around 70 percent in 2025.
"At R560, it falls woefully short of the cost of feeding a child a basic, nutritious diet, calculated by PMBEJD at R948.18.
"In addition, caregivers do not have access to any dedicated social assistance, which means they need to use a proportion of the CSG to feed themselves, as well as their children," she said.
The Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant initially helped fill the gap in support for working-age adults, but it has fallen significantly behind rising living costs.
It now amounts to only 47.6 percent of the rebased 2023 food poverty line, while coverage has declined due to budget constraints.
"It now reaches less than half of the estimated eligible population," Howson said.
"This is the subject of an ongoing litigation between IEJ, #PayTheGrants and the state.”
The Older Person’s Grant (OPG) is also under strain.
Research from the University of Cape Town’s Family Caregiving Programme shows that it often serves as the main source of income for multi-generational households, stretching the grant across multiple dependents.
Most vulnerable groups left behind
Working-age adults remain among the most vulnerable groups, largely because they have no access to permanent social assistance outside the SRD grant.
Howson said unemployment levels remain extremely high, and many job seekers have little prospect of finding work in the short to medium term.
"Pregnant women, infants, children and their caregivers are very vulnerable.
"There has been a noted decline in the number of newborn babies accessing the CSG, possibly as a result of new procedural hurdles that have been adopted by DSD and SASSA," she noted.
Pregnant mothers have much greater nutritional needs than the general population and their access to food has a significant effect on the health of their babies into adulthood.
But there is no social assistance for this group, which is why a coalition of civil society organisations has been calling for the introduction of a maternal support grant during pregnancy which is automatically converted into the CSG following the birth of the baby.
Despite their increased nutritional needs, pregnant women receive no dedicated social assistance, prompting civil society organisations to call for the introduction of a maternal support grant during pregnancy, which would automatically convert into the CSG after birth.
Family caregivers, most of whom are women, also face heightened vulnerability. Their caregiving responsibilities limit their ability to earn income, yet they receive no compensation for their essential work, forcing many to rely on child or old-age grants to survive.