Riot Hlatshwayo
Riot Hlatshwayo
The Siduduli'ndlala (fighting poverty) campaign, led by Mpumalanga MEC Fish Mahlalela, continues to assist impoverished families.
At a recent function in Brooklyn, near Acornhoek, Mahlalela handed out food parcels to nearly a thousand families - and uniforms to nearly 2000 school children.
"Poor households spending less than R300 a month on food - including child-headed households, people with disabilities, female-headed households with insufficient or no income - are the beneficiaries of this programme," Abie Ndlela, the province's social development spokesman, said yesterday.
Mahlalela said the age limit for the child support grant will be raised in 2009 - by one year - to include 14-year-olds.
"Children should go and register now so that from January they can get their grants again."
The MEC also announced that the qualifying age for the state's old-age pension for males had been reduced from 65 this year - to 61 in 2009 and 60 by 2010.