Browsing by Author "Zembe-Mkabile, Wanga"
Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item Categorisation and Minoritisation(BMJ Global health, 2020) Zembe-Mkabile, Wanga; Selvarajah, Sujitha; Deivanayagam, Thilagawathi Abi; Lasco, GideonThe disproportionate mortality of COVID-19 and brutality of protective institutions has shifted anti-racism discourses into the mainstream. 1 Increased reckoning over categorisations of people demonstrate that racial categories, while imprecise, fluid, time and context-specific, embody hierarchical power. We interrogate categorisations used in the UK, South Africa and the USA; their origins and impact. We emphasise needing to recognise commonality of power structures globally, while acknowledging specificity in local contexts. In identifying such commonality, we encourage use of the term ‘minoritised’ as a universal alternative.Item Child Support Grant access and receipt among 12-week-old infants in an urban township setting in South Africa(Co-Action Publishing, 2014) Zembe-Mkabile, Wanga; Doherty, Tanya; Sanders, David; Jackson, DebraBACKGROUND: Cash transfers (CTs) are increasingly used as a strategy to alleviate poverty and improve child health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries. The Child Support Grant (CSG) is the largest CT programme in South Africa, and on the continent, targeting poor children from birth until the age of 18 with a monthly sum of R300 (USD30). Evidence on the CSG shows that early receipt of the grant is associated with improved child health outcomes. Since its implementation, one of the major concerns about the grant has been take-up rates, particularly for younger children. This paper reports results on take-up rates for 12-week-old infants residing in an urban township in South Africa. METHODS: This is a descriptive study utilising data from a community-based, cluster-randomised trial which evaluated a programme providing pregnancy and post-natal home visits by community health workers to 3,494 mothers in Umlazi township, South Africa. RESULTS: At the 12-week visit, half (52%) of the mothers who had enrolled in the study had applied for the CSG on behalf of their children, while 85% of the mothers who had not applied were still planning to apply. Only 38% (1,327) of all children had received the CSG. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, many mothers had not applied for the CSG in the first few months after delivery, and only a third of children had accessed the grant. Further research is needed to understand what the current barriers are that prevent mothers from applying for this important form of social protection in the early months after delivery.Item Children, Social Assistance and Food Security(The Black Sash, 2021) Zembe-Mkabile, Wanga; Witten, Chantell; Edlemann, TheresaThe Child Support Grant (CSG) in South Africa, which is the smallest of all the grants, is currently R460 per month after being increased from R450 in April 2021. This grant needs to cover many basic needs for a child – not least nutrition. However, the reality is that the grant is primarily used to buy food; food that is insufficient in quantity and quality to contribute to adequate nutrition. The grant for each child is paid out to a designated caregiver, who manages the funds on a child’s behalf. Based on the understanding that even though poverty and hunger are economic issues, they are also deeply social and psychological, this study is grounded on twelve case studies in which caregivers of children on CSGs were interviewed in depth about the ways in which the cash transfer is managed by households in terms of food and other basic needs.Item The experience of cash transfers in alleviating childhood poverty in South Africa: Mothers’ experiences of the Child Support Grant(Routledge, 2014) Zembe-Mkabile, Wanga; Surender, Rebecca; Sanders, DavidCash transfer (CT) programmes are increasingly being used as policy instruments to address child poverty and child health outcomes in developing countries. As the largest cash-transfer programme in Africa, the South African Child Support Grant (CSG) provides an important opportunity to further understand how a CT of its kind works in a developing country context. We explored the experiences and views of CSG recipients and non-recipients from four diverse settings in South Africa. Four major themes emerged from the data: barriers to accessing the CSG; how the CSG is utilised and the ways in which it makes a difference; the mechanisms for supplementing the CSG; and the impact of not receiving the grant. Findings show that administrative factors continue to be the greatest barrier to CSG receipt, pointing to the need for further improvements in managing queues, waiting times and coordination between departments for applicants trying to submit their applications. Many recipients, especially those where the grant was the only source of income, acknowledged the importance of the CSG, while also emphasising its inadequacy. To maximise their impact, CT programmes such as the CSG need to be fully funded and form part of a broader basket of poverty alleviation strategies.Item Social protection and care: Does the Child Support Grant translate to social justice outcomes for female beneficiaries who receive it on behalf of their children?(HSRC Press, Cape Town, South Africa, 2022) Zembe-Mkabile, WangaThe book begins by situating the establishment of the CSG within the wider context of South Africa’s political and welfare history, and the global context of social protection. It starts off by making the case for a gendered and feminist perspective of social protection which takes into account the degree to which a given social protection instrument – in this case the CSG – has the potential to be transformative, and the extent to which it fosters or doesn’t, the dignity and freedom of the women who receive it. The author then discusses in detail South Africa’s history of poverty and inequality, correctly identifying and locating both the role of the past (i.e. legacy of apartheid) and the failure of the present in addressing poverty and inequality. In this chapter, the book highlights the delicate tension between the country’s constitutional imperative of and commitment to redistribution, and a neoliberal macro-economic framework which prioritises the market, and how these contradictions continue to shape South Africa’s social protection system.Item Social Protection in a Time of Covid(The Black Sash, 2021) Torkelson, Erin; Zembe-Mkabile, Wanga; Senona, EngenasThe Covid-19 Social Relief of distress Grant (Covid-19 SRD) was introduced in South Africa in May 2020 to mitigate the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. It provided for people between 18 and 59 years of age, who had no income nor access to any other form of social assistance. This was an unprecedented moment in the history of social security in South Africa, initiated under enormous pressure in a remarkably short space of time. It drew people who had previously been excluded from the social grant programme, namely those aged 18 to 59 years, into the social protection network, creating a platform for Basic Income Support in the future. And yet, the Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant was not perfect. The R350 amount was not linked to an objective measure of poverty, and fell well below the food poverty line (R585).Item The relationship between food insecurity, the child support grant and childcare arrangements(University of Stellenbosch, 2024) Swart, Rina; Tyabashe-Phume, Babalwa Pearl; Zembe-Mkabile, WangaFood insecurity is endemic in South Africa because of high levels of poverty. Children in food-insecure households may be exposed to childcare instabilities. However, the role of social protection in mediating the relationship between food insecurity and childcare arrangements is not well understood. This study explored the relationship between food insecurity, childcare arrangements and the child support grant (CSG) in a township in Cape Town. The study design was mixed-methods; a hunger scale was administered to 120 participants and in-depth interviews conducted with 23 primary caregivers of children under 2 years of age. The findings indicated that despite being food insecure, many households had stable childcare arrangements, presumably because of the CSG and the age of the children at the time of the study. Further research is needed to unpack the relationship between food insecurity, childcare arrangements and the CSG.Item ‘To be a woman is to make a plan’: a qualitative study exploring mothers’ experiences of the Child Support Grant in supporting children’s diets and nutrition in South Africa(BMJ Publishing Group, 2018) Zembe-Mkabile, Wanga; Surender, Rebecca; Sanders, David; Swart, Rina; Ramokolo, Vundli; Wright, Gemma; Doherty, TanyaFood security and good nutrition are key determinants of child well-being. There is strong evidence that cash transfers such as South Africa’s Child Support Grant (CSG) have the potential to help address some of the underlying drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition by providing income to caregivers in poor households, but it is unclear how precisely they work to affect child well-being and nutrition. We present results from a qualitative study conducted to explore the role of the CSG in food security and child well-being in poor households in an urban and a rural setting in South Africa.Item Undernutrition and its social determinants(Elsevier, 2017) Ramokolo, Vundli; Zembe-Mkabile, Wanga; Sanders, DavidUndernutrition, especially among young children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) remains widespread, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Its effects include increased risk of morbidity and mortality from infection, impaired intellectual development, and a higher risk of developing obesity and chronic noncommunicable diseases in later life. The immediate determinants are intake of inadequate diets and increased disease. Underlying these are food insecurity, suboptimal social care (including breastfeeding), and inadequate health and environmental services. These, in turn, are underpinned by a combination of social and structural factors that include limited education of women, lack of financial and other resources at household level, and a food environment in an increasing number of countries that promotes consumption of a nutrient-poor diet.