AfriPulse
The 2025 Budget increased the subsidy for early childhood development from R17 per child per day to R24. However, the subsidy is reaching only one-third of registered centres, a recent Daily Maverick webinar, titled Little Bites, big wonders: How nutrition can make a difference in SA, has heard
The first 1,000 days are the most critical in a child’s life, from pregnancy until the child’s second birthday, according to Unicef .
The statistic was highlighted by Daily Maverick managing editor Zukiswa Pikoli as she opened a recent webinar hosted with Grace Matlhape, CEO of SmartStart , and Tshepo Mantjé, children’s rights activist and early childhood development (ECD) advocate at the Equality Collective .
After breastfeeding exclusively for six months , children should be fed nutrient-dense meals frequently, she pointed out. However, this is not always possible in South Africa because of high levels of inequality and poverty.
South Africa’s last census reveals that there are 6 million children under the age of four, but “access to early learning opportunities [is] out of reach for 48%” of them.
Read more: How investing in early childhood development sets up children for a lifetime of success
Getting under-sixes in the system
“Two-thirds of all of South Africa’s children live in the poorest 40% of our population. And so we’re talking about a system of structural exclusion of children on many fronts,” Matlhape said.
Mantjé, who speaks to ECD practitioners through the Real Reform for Early Childhood Development platform, said he has been hearing stories in rural Eastern Cape, northern KwaZulu-Natal and Rustenburg in North West “where practitioners have had to pull food out of their own kitchens, take food from their own families so that they can feed the young children in front of them”.
Mantjé noted that by the time a child turns six, almost all their brain has grown . Resourcing early childhood development is crucial, so that children are on track to thrive, he said.
Matlhape said one of the reasons children fell through the cracks in South Africa is that there are not enough ECD centres.
She said SmartStart approaches this issue in three ways:
Identifying areas to recruit, train, and support practitioners;
Raising awareness about the importance of the first five years of a child’s development; and
Working with organisations and government departments to put a spotlight on the policy and legislative systems.
What does ECD look like in SA?
ECD centres have largely been an informal sector, where women in communities respond to needs without state support, Mantjé said.
In 2020, the responsibility for ECD was transferred from the Department of Social Development to the Department of Basic Education , he noted.
Mantjé added that section 28 of the Constitution “clearly states that the state has a responsibility, or rather, young children have the right to basic nutrition”.
“It is an immediately realisable right, unlike many other rights in the Constitution, which are raised in a way to say everyone has the right to access such a thing.”
Getting budget to the centres
Mantjé noted that the Department of Basic Education feeds 9 million children in schools every day . This happens on government property, with kitchens and food handlers. However, the ECD sector does not have storage, kitchens or capacity for food handlers, he said.
The 2025 Budget increased the ECD subsidy from R17 per child per day to R24, to support increased access to ECD for 700, 000 more children , up to the age of five years.
Matlhape said the R10-billion allocation was an important step. “It closes a big gap. It helps. It’s a bold step. It enables plenty. It’s not going to be the full answer, as huge amounts of centres are unregistered.”
She said the mass registration drive , called Bana Pele ECD, is a crucial step, allowing ECD centres to register as bronze, silver or gold.
The move to silver assumes infrastructure support. Silver is the point where the R24 per child per day will flow in, she said.
“But there are organisations that are looking at very creative ways of supporting urban agriculture in communities. […] What we require is a government system that will connect the dots and ensure that all children are reached,” Matlhape said.
Mantjé suggested provincial procurement. “We suggest collaborations with schools close by, where the centres can connect to a school and get the food in this way,” he said.
What can we do?
Mantjé advocated for active citizenry, where South Africans participate in community ECD centres and engage with local government.
“This R10-billion is not going to go to all the centres, because only 41% of centres are registered. So you only have to be registered to get the subsidy. But even worse, of the 41% of centres registered, only 33% are reported to be getting a subsidy.”
He said South Africans must shout about the need for a nutrition programme, send letters and post on social media to the Department of Basic Educati
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