She said the monthly basic payment shows government buffers citizens against economic, health, social, climate change and similar shocks.

“The responsiveness of our government to novel challenges is courageously and visibly forthcoming while its long-standing commitments to continually pay the nearly 19-million disability, foster care and child support grants to eligible South Africans is unfaltering,” she said.

“Nearly all the young people who receive grants on behalf of children are young women. It is imperative that they be meaningfully empowered to improve their dignity and remove most of the socially-constructed vulnerabilities that bedevil women.”

According to Zulu, government considers the dignity of each South African as indispensable, and for this reason all efforts are targeted at realising a dignified life.

“On account of the complex nature of social ills, the department of social development continues to support more than 20,000 non-profit organisations annually with more than R8.2bn. In return, these social partners become the extension of the state’s capacity and attend to varied social challenges in communities.”