The SA Law Reform Commission, which is tasked with advising the government on the development of the law, has recommended the introduction of a maternity support grant for poor pregnant women, putting the cost of such a move at about R3bn a year.
The commission, in its final report after a many years of investigations, said the country’s social protection system does not provide maternity and parental cover to the vast majority of self-employed workers who work in both the formal and informal sectors of the economy.
If enacted, the maternity support grant will add more pressure to a distressed fiscus already burdened by other social relief grants the government is paying out every month. Only last week, finance minister Enoch Godongwana extended the Covid-19 social relief of distress grant for another year until March 2025 while the government considers social security policy reforms and a funding model.
“It is recommended that the existing child support grant (CSG) be extended to all eligible poor and vulnerable pregnant women, including self-employed workers in both the formal and informal economy, who fulfil the criteria for the child support grant and that maternity support should be provided for six months of pregnancy and be registered in the name of the expectant mother,” the commission, headed by Constitutional Court judge Jody Kollapen, said.
“The maternity support should be converted into a child support grant after the birth of the child... the commission’s recommendation for the extension of the grant to incorporate maternity support is supported by the Women’s Legal Centre,” the report said, adding that being a recipient of the grant should not exclude recipients from enjoying any other social security benefit.
The commission said that considering the maternity and early child support as simply an extension of the child support grant, rather than a new grant, minimises the need for changes to the legal framework for this support. It said this approach would also reduce the logistics of administering the grant and would simplify amendments to the Social Assistance Act.
“If the grant value is set at the level of the child support grant of R480 per month and the uptake is 80%, it will cost government between R1.89bn and R3.26bn to implement the maternity support grant, depending on the eligibility period and the number of months it is paid to beneficiaries.”
A study by the Centre for Health Policy found of the 1.2-million women who fall pregnant annually in SA, half of them are single women who live in female-headed households.
The commission has recommended the Social Assistance Act of 2004 be amended to include the definition of a self-employed worker to mean an independent contractor who has created her or his own employment opportunities and is not accountable to an employer.
The watchdog also proposes the amendment to the section must state self-employment to include individuals who work for a company that is not incorporated and not registered for tax.
The report shows that the Treasury made its submission in December 2021 through then director-general Dondo Mogajane.
The Treasury urged for the costs of the proposal to be determined.
“In both the policymaking and the review of legislation processes, the costs of any changes must be determined as part of those processes not as an ‘after the policy/legislation has been completed’ exercise. If not done in this sequence, the state ends up with policy and legislation which cannot be implemented as there are no resources for implementation thereof,” Mogajane’s response reads in part.
The commission commissioned Cornerstone Economic Research to do the costing of the proposal. Cornerstone recommended that the maternity support grant be structured as follows:
- All pregnant women are eligible to receive the grant, provided they do not earn more than the income thresholds applicable to the child support grant (in 2022 the thresholds were R57,600 per year for single people and a combined income of R115,200 per year for married couples or couples in a permanent life partnership).
- The value of the grant is the same as the child support grant (in 2022, R480 per month).
- The grant to a pregnant woman will commence at the start of the second trimester of her pregnancy, as proven by the submission of a copy of her maternity case record from a state or private health facility.
- The maternity support grant will automatically transition to a child support grant in the instance of a live birth, and upon the registration of the newborn child’s birth with the department of home affairs.
“Our assessment is that the benefits likely to accrue to government, pregnant women and children from the introduction of a maternity support grant will exceed the estimated annual fiscal cost of R2.79bn required to pay for it,” Cornerstone said.
Department of social development spokesperson Lumka Oliphant said the commission’s recommendations are mostly in line with the department’s own study.
“Their report does acknowledge and make reference to our work as well also critiquing it in some aspects, particularly our costing, which we did in-house and had always being planning to commission it, which we have not yet done,” Oliphant said.
The commission recommends that a definition of “self-employed worker”, which includes own-account as well as wage workers, be added in the relevant sections of all the employment and labour legislation providing for state maternity and parental benefits.
In particular, the commission recommends that the existing Unemployment Insurance Fund system be extended by the department of employment & labour to self-employed workers, so as to make provision for the extension of maternity and parental benefits outlined in the Unemployment Insurance Fund Act and Basic Conditions of Employment Act to all workers.
The commission is also calling for direct representation of workers in the informal economy and self-employed workers at Nedlac.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.