South Africa: Two Child Grants Are Not Enough to Feed a Family for a Month

4 March 2026
Scrolla (Johannesburg)
By Dylan Bettencourt
  • Two Child Support Grants total R1,120 while the average household food basket now costs R5,422 in February.
  • The basic nutritional food basket for a larger family is over R6,500 a month according to the latest index.

The cost of feeding a family in South Africa is now far higher than the value of two full Child Support Grants combined.

The February Household Affordability Index shows that the average cost of a basic household food basket has risen to R5,422.32 per month .

The Child Support Grant remains R560 per child. Even when two grants are combined, the total comes to R1,120 per month .

This means two full grants cover only a small portion of what families need to spend on food.

The gap becomes even larger when considering the cost of a basic nutritional food basket for a larger family, which is over R6,500 per month .

Read the original article on Scrolla.

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