NGOs: R20 grant hike shows ‘disconnect’

The social relief of distress (SRD) grant will increase from R350 to R370 on 1 April as government tries to keep the president’s State of the Nation Address promise to improve it.

However, at least one group of nongovernmental organisations is not happy with the R20 increase, saying it is not an improvement, but an insulting pittance. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced the increase in the National Assembly this week.

He said the minister of social development will publish a comprehensive social security programme soon that will define a better platform and future for the social security net in SA.

Godongwana also announced in his budget speech in February that social grants across the board will increase over the course of 2024.

Human rights NGO Black Sash said the president’s promise to expand the SRD grant brought hope for the almost nine million adults who receive it.

Godongwana also promised a bigger grant despite there being no money for the increase in the social development budget vote.

But the Universal Basic Income Coalition said the “meagre” increase “smacks of a disconnect with persistent food insecurity millions face and amounts to empty political opportunism”.

The coalition is comprised of the Alternative Information and Development Centre, Black Sash, Basic Income Earth Network, Africa Universal Basic Income Observatory, Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town, Congress of SA Trade Unions, Global Reformed Platforms for Engagement, RightfulShare, Institute for Economic Justice, #PayTheGrants, Social Policy Initiative, Women on Farms Project and Youth Lab.

The coalition also pointed out that the current amount of R350 has not been adjusted to keep pace with inflation since 2020. In real terms, this implies a decrease in the grant value of around 20%.

“This would merely mean a stabilisation of its 2020 value without any real increase. This at minimum requires an increase of R90. Any increase which fails to meet this threshold is regressive.”

The coalition said this increase is contrary to the finance minister’s acknowledgement that “we are sensitive to the increase in the cost of living”.

“This speaks to the austerity budget that undermines constitutional obligations. The minister allocated R44 billion in anticipation of 10.5 million beneficiaries qualifying for the grant in 2022.

“This was reduced in nominal terms to R36 billion in 2023 and now further reduced to R33.6 billion in 2024. This begs the question of how the grant amount and access to it will be improved with a further reduced budget.”

At least 2.5 million beneficiaries were excluded from the grant after the new iteration came into effect.