The boyfriend loophole: How parents exploit SASSA’s child support grant

In some of Cape Town’s townships, a handful of couples live like spouses but refuse to get married.

One couple, who prefer to remain anonymous, are currently engaged. But have called off the wedding scheduled for February.

The reason? The fiancé earns just enough to make the pair ineligible for the child support grant.

What is the Boyfriend Loophole?

The boyfriend loophole allows parents in amicable relationships to avoid combining finances.

Rather than pursue child support from the other parent or get married, two options that could make the couple ineligible for the grant, they choose to remain unmarried.

They raise their children together.

Sometimes they live together, often in a bungalow behind a relative’s house.

Sometimes, they have more than one child together.

All receive the child support grant from the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA).

The number of parents choosing this route is anyone’s guess.

Cape Town Couple Using the Boyfriend Loophole

When the pair met, both were unemployed.

The pregnancy wasn’t planned. But for the child’s sake, they decided to stay together and work on improving their circumstances.

Eventually, both would find work.

The child’s father got an apprenticeship, which eventually led to a permanent job and a career track.

The mother has held various contract roles in Cape Town’s factories.

Together, they make slightly more than R12 000 a month.

Not enough to live comfortably in Cape Town and raise a child, but too much to get the grant.

He supports his family and hers financially, so their finances are stretched.

When he proposed, she said yes.

He felt strongly about being married while their child is young, having grown up in a nuclear family.

But she is hesitant. The grant helps when they’re running low on money.

Currently, they’re dating. Plans to get married fell through.

If they do get married, their child won’t receive the child support grant.

South Africa’s Marital Statistics

Between 2014 and 2023, South Africa’s marriage rate fell 34.2%, according to Statistics South Africa (Stats SA).

In 2011, when the child support grant was still R260 a month, then-finance minister Pravin Gordhan announced that SASSA would receive R870 million to improve its grant application process.

The improvements would help reduce waiting times and fraud.

It went into effect by 2014.

By 2015, SASSA was becoming more assertive with its means testing.

Married couples couldn’t earn more than R6 400 a month.

That year, 11.5 million beneficiaries received the grant.

That same year, marriages declined by 8.1%.

They’ve declined consistently ever since.

When a couple is married, SASSA assesses their joint income.

As of 2026, married couples can’t earn more than R11 600 a month.

For unmarried parents, SASSA only assesses the income of the parent receiving the grant.