NGOs seek advice over ‘punitive’ grant amendments
A coalition of NGOs advocating for a universal basic income grant to cushion the poor against hardship is seeking legal advice after social development minister Lindiwe Zulu published “punitive” draft amendments to regulations governing the R350 per month Covid-19 social relief of distress (SRD) grant.
The Universal Basic Income Coalition (UBIC) — a coalition of NGOs including Black Sash, the Institute of Economic Justice, Alternative Information and Development Centre, YouthLab, Social Policy Initiative and #PayTheGrants — lashed out at the “punitive” draft amendments, describing them as an “overreach by Treasury”.
If implemented, the amendments would effectively take “food off the table of millions of South Africans”.
The draft amendments published in the Government Gazette come as the Treasury moves to tighten purse strings amid the rising cost of living and persistent load-shedding.
The Treasury cracked down on the cities of Tshwane and Johannesburg by notifying both of its intention to cut a combined R1.83bn for grants due to underperformance and noncompliance with legislation. It is a signal the Treasury is getting tough on errant municipalities ahead of 2024’s budget presentation.
The draft amendments allow the department to cancel approved applications when beneficiaries did not update personal and banking details within 90 days of being notified to do so and “any monies due will be forfeited to the state”.
The draft amendments, scheduled to take effect on April 1, state that if the beneficiary dies “the grant will be paid until the end of the month in which the beneficiary died”.
Zulu called on interested persons or organisations to submit written comments on the draft regulations to the department within 21 days.
The SRD grant was introduced by the government in 2020 to cushion poor households against the hardship caused by the lockdowns it imposed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The grant, which reaches about 8.5-million beneficiaries, was extended several times until March 2024 thanks to a tax windfall from mining companies that allowed finance minister Enoch Godongwana to pay down debt and provide personal tax relief in 2022.
It was initially intended for unemployed adults and later extended to adults with little or no income. The Treasury allocated an extra R36bn to the SRD grant in 2023/24.
Should the grant be extended beyond March 2024, the Treasury estimates that at its current monetary value it would cost the state R46.6bn in 2025/26 and R52.7bn in 2026/27.
The SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) would require R407m in 2024/25, R426m in 2025/26
and R445m in 2026/27 for administration of the grant, according to the Treasury.
The UBIC criticised the government for proposing to add “punitive clauses” to the regulations governing the SRD grant. “This includes giving itself the power to recover monies from beneficiaries if they are seen to have benefited ‘irregularly’ or were not entitled to benefit. It is unclear how this will be applied, and we are seeking legal advice as to whether this may have adverse consequences for beneficiaries,” the UBIC said.
The coalition said it was the responsibility of the social development department and Sassa to fairly assess whether an applicant “is entitled to benefit before the grant is paid” and expressed concern about the possibility of deserving beneficiaries being prejudiced by the department and Sassa changing the decision retrospectively.
“Given the already high rate of unfair exclusion from the grant, it is imperative that this clause does not provide further avenues to exclude people in need. In addition, the recovery of monies already paid could result in significant financial hardship, debt and hunger,” UBIC said.
When contacted for comment, Zulu referred questions to Sassa national spokesperson Paseka Letsatsi. When asked about the draft amendments, Letsatsi said the old regulations governing the SRD grant were coming to an end. For Sassa to continue to administer the grant, “there must be some legislative framework to govern such — hence the regulations published for public comment”.
Letsatsi. said: “The draft regulations make provisions for [Sassa] to be able to recoup any monies paid to any beneficiary but also reduce the burden on the state to beneficiaries who are not responsive when requested to confirm their details.”
When asked how many people were approved for the grant but did not collect it, he said: “The number … fluctuates from one month to the other and is not constant on a straight line throughout the quarter or year … in November 2023, for instance, 28,000 people did not collect their grant. Remember that to a certain extent some of these clients are the same people that get ‘repeated’ in each month.”