To unlock young children's' full potential, they need nurturing care across five key areas, as early as the first 1 000 days of their lives: nutrition; early learning; health; caregiving; and safety and protection. These forms of care lay an essential foundation for lifelong learning, well-being, and success. All young children have a right to access these quality services, whether at home with their families, at early learning programmes, at health clinics, or in other settings. Caring for young children is one of the most powerful investments the South African government can make. But, for too long, the government has neglected young children, and the parents, caregivers, and ECD practitioners who nurture them. The amount the government spends on young children is not enough: children aged zero to five make up 10% of the population yet, in 2021/22, less than 2% of total government spending went to early learning, family support and early nutrition interventions for children in this age group. Families who take care of children at home do not get proper support. The health sector has not fulfilled its mandate to enable parents and caregivers to provide nurturing care. Many children without birth certificates cannot access the Child Support Grant, and when children have access to the Child Support Grant, it is not enough to cover nutritious food, let alone other essentials such as clothing. Currently, only a third of children aged three to five have access to an early learning programme (such as a creche, nursery school, or playgroup). Even where children do access early learning programmes, practitioners often struggle to provide nutritious food, adequate infrastructure, and age-appropriate stimulation for learning, with the subsidy from the government frozen at just R17 per eligible child per day since 2019. This needs to change if we are committed to the just, equal, and caring society we strive to become.

It is a constitutional right for social grant recipients to receive social grants they are eligible for. All citizens have a right to a fair administrative process by SASSA. The R350 grant is crucial for unemployed and it gets worse when not paid for months because SASSA has not changed your cellphone number after informing the department.

We have the power to protect children from hunger if we come together and demand the Minister of Finance to take action. Not only would increasing the Health Promotion Levy raise funds that could help fight child hunger, but it would also help reduce the consumption of sugary drinks, which contribute to Non-Communicable Diseases, which are a major health crisis. We’re not the only ones calling on Treasury to act, over 35 top experts on obesity, diet-related diseases and public health from some of the world’s leading universities have written to Treasury officials to support increasing the current HPL to 20%. They are also very impressed with the results of evaluations done on the current HPL.

https://youtu.be/nuVHJT_rhgI Imagine your teacher smoking in the classroom. For some of us, this was the reality until new rules were put in place by government in 1993 [6]. But why had government not acted sooner? In their paper published in 2003, Mia Malan and Rosemary Leaver outline the relationship between the biggest tobacco business and government [7] [8]. Government eventually put public health before profits, thanks to the work of health advocates. But big businesses are still using their power to protect their profits at our expense. Researchers have pointed out that big businesses have worked to delay and delegitimize important health policies by using their associations and different strategies [9]. Researchers and civil society groups are not allowed to attend a standing meeting between the National Department of Health and big food businesses [9]. State capture has shown us we have a lot of work to do. But we are making some progress in improving transparency and accountability. Politicians have to declare financial interests [10], and political parties now must disclose who funds them [11]. We need to keep building on this momentum. We can't afford to have a repeat of 2014 where big businesses that make food like polony did not agree with government's proposed hygiene rules and instead wanted to self-regulate [12] [13]. Government should have stood up to those big businesses in 2014 and put the new rules in place anyway. Government has to stand up to big business bullies. Their job is to serve the people, not private interests. References can be found here: https://amandla.mobi/big-business-bullies-references

The R350 SRD grant was mainly introduced to provide relief to the unemployed during the first lockdown in 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. The need for the grant further highlighted the urgent need for the long-overdue BIG which was recommended by the Taylor Committee Report nearly 20 years ago [3]. Unless the problems of the grant are urgently attended to and fixed, they will continue to hinder the progress of implementing the BIG by April 2023. President Cyril Ramaphosa must honour his commitment to leave no one behind and ensure that Treasury, DSD and Sassa work together to fix all R350 issues before it ends in March 2023 and then have it turned into the much-needed Basic Income Grant. [1] https://www.gov.za/speeches/president-cyril-ramaphosa-2022-state-nation-address-10-feb-2022-0000 [2] https://www.groundup.org.za/article/seven-million-people-have-applied-for-r350-grant-since-saturday/ [3] https://ewn.co.za/2022/02/09/a-basic-income-grant-the-nitty-gritty-and-feasibility-of-this-proposed-idea

Time has run out for the R350 SRD grant, but our leaders are feeling the pressure. Finance Minister Mboweni and National Treasury are already under fire for delivering an anti-poor austerity* budget and have ignored our urgent plea to extend the R350 SRD Grant. There is already some support for our demands. One of Parliament's Appropriations Committee members, Mr Qayiso, said the “Rate of unemployment is so high...it has reached an alarming crisis. It [Extending the SRD] is a fair request and must be considered” [1]. Other Members of Parliament also voiced their support [2] after we ensured that members of the committees on finance and appropriations heard directly from those who will be hit hardest by the decision to cut the R350 SRD grant; low-income Black women [3]. Theresa Linden, one of the campaign supporters, told Members of Parliament that “We are struggling, we are still sitting in a lockdown and not getting full salaries...hope Treasury can see that and help the people in South Africa to alleviate the poverty”. Small jobs here and there are not enough to put enough food on the table, and many jobs don’t pay enough. Our leaders can not guarantee good jobs for everyone, but they can guarantee Basic Income Support so our people can live with dignity. It’s been nearly 20 years since the Taylor Commissions Report recommended a Basic Income Grant [4]. We are sick of our leaders being all talk and no action. The R350 SRD grant is a stepping stone to implementing the decades’ overdue Basic Income Support for those aged 18 to 59. Over a quarter of a million people have added their names demanding Basic Income Support is urgently implemented [5]. [1] Standing Committee on Appropriations Public Hearings 12 March 2021 via Parliament of the Republic of South Africa Youtube Channel. [2] Joint Meeting: Standing Committee on Finance and Select Committee on Finance, 3 March 2021 via Parliament of the Republic of South Africa Youtube Channel. [3] https://fb.watch/4j7AZtEtI5/ [4] Basic Income Grant: Briefing and Economic Feasibility - Social Development, 13 November 2002 [5] https://awethu.amandla.mobi/petitions/basic-income-support-for-aged-18-to-59-now *Austerity refers to strict and harsh decisions and policies that cut social spending that a government can put in place to deal with debt