WENDY MOTHATA|
PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that the Social Relief of Distress Grant (SRD) of R350 will be
extended until March next year.
The president was speaking during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the Cape Town Hall on Thursday evening.
“We will extend the R350 SRD Grant for one further year, to the end of March 2023,” said Ramaphosa
The SRD was first introduced in April 2021 and was scheduled to end in March 2022.
Ramaphosa said since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the SRD has provided support to more than 10 million unemployed South African.
“Since the onset of COVID-19, the Social Relief of Distress Grant has provided support to more than 10 million unemployed people who were most vulnerable to the impact of the pandemic,” he said.
Addressing a media last year, former Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni said the reinstatement of the R350 COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant will cost the South African fiscus R27 billion.
However, the president added that a fiscal crisis would hurt the poor.
“As much as it has had a substantial impact, we must recognise that we face extreme fiscal constraints. A fiscal crisis would hurt the poor worst of all through the deterioration of the basic services on which they rely. Mindful of the proven benefits of the grant, we will extend the R350 SRD Grant for one further year, to the end of March 2023.”
The president said the government will expand support to poor families to ensure that no person in this country has to endure the pain and indignity of hunger.
“As we work to grow the economy and create jobs, we will expand support to poor families to ensure that no person in this country has to endure the pain and indignity of hunger. Our social protection system is among the greatest achievements of the democratic government, reaching more than 18 million people every month. Without this support, millions more people would live in dire poverty,” said Ramaphosa.
He added that the government will engage in consultations and detailed technical work to identify the best options to replace this grant.
“During this time, we will engage in broad consultations and detailed technical work to identify the best options to replace this grant. Any future support must pass the test of affordability, and must not come at the expense of basic services or at the risk of unsustainable spending. It remains our ambition to establish a minimum level of support for those in greatest need.”
Both the ruling ANC and the country’s largest trade federation Cosatu have called for the extension of the R350 social relief of distress grant introduced in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ramaphosa, finance minister Enoch Godongwana and social development minister Lindiwe Zulu held meetings with civil society in mid-January to discuss the possible extension of the grant and the possible introduction of a basic income grant.
- * Inside Politics
