SASSA SRD Grant Extended to March 2024
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana stated on Wednesday that the R350 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Grant will be extended for a further year, ending in March 2024.
Godongwana stated in his medium term budget policy statement that the SRD award was launched in May 2020 as a temporary solution to address the needs of those who were most at risk and were impacted by lockdown measures.
Since then, it has been prolonged several times.
There are ongoing discussions over the grant’s future, which include very severe trade-offs and financial choices.
However, since April, millions of people who previously received the award have not been getting it due to a sharp decline in approvals by the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA).
According to SASSA, the number of individuals who were granted the award fell precipitously from 10.9 million in March to slightly under 4.8 million in April.
During this time, there was a sharp fall in the number of applications as well; from about 15.8 million in March to 8.1 million in April.
Since March, there have been more applications and approvals, but none has surpassed the Department of Social Development’s cap of 10.5 million (DSD).
In answer to a parliamentary inquiry, SASSA stated that in August, there were slightly over 12 million applications and 7.4 million approvals.
The Institute for Economic Justice voiced concerns about this reduction (IEJ).
Co-founder Neil Coleman stated at a presentation earlier this month that since March, about a third of the cash for the SRD grant payments had not been used.
Because “these payments are directed at the poorest South Africans, on the verge of despair and famine,” Coleman argued that the underspending was a serious issue.
He said that the strict bank verification procedures, the R350 means test barrier that disqualified many potential beneficiaries, and the fact that applications could only be submitted online were to blame for the dramatic drop in approvals.
The DSD announced the 10.5 million approvals per year budget ceiling in March.
The R44 billion allocated by the DSD for the R350 grant in 2022–2023 will fund 10.5 million grant payments per month.
This is true even though the DSD’s own statistics reveal that 18.3 million people live below the R624 per month food poverty level and 13.4 million people have no income.
After the Black Sash, a civil society organization, sued DSD Minister Lindiwe Zulu in August to challenge the “unfair” and “arbitrary” criteria that prevented millions of recipients from getting the award, the threshold for qualifying for the payment was raised to R624 per month.
Despite the modifications to the qualifying requirements, Black Sash National Advocacy Manager Hoodah Abrahams-Fayker told GroundUp that there was still proof “that the implementation of the laws is still omitting millions that deserve the award and it is by design.”
According to Abrahams-Fayker, there are still millions of people in need of social support.
The Black Sash, the IEJ, the CALS, and other civil society organizations have been urging the government to make the stipend permanent and raise it to at least R624.
SASSA Payment Dates
You can find SASSA September payment dates here.
