Minister Lindiwe Zulu eases qualifying criteria for Social Relief of Distress Grant

THE Department of Social Development has gazetted changes to the regulations governing the payout of the R350 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant in South Africa, allowing more beneficiaries to qualify.

These amended regulations include the adjustment of the income threshold for qualifying for the SRD Grant from R350 to R624 per month. The value of the grant remains R350 per person.

The amendment also made changes to the frequency of the means testing by removing the requirement for applicants to indicate whether they required the grant after every three months. The removal of the bank verification as the final determination for means testing was also gazetted.

Following intense public pressure from civil society organisations who had demanded that the department lift the income eligibility threshold from R350 to R624, the food poverty line, and lifting of the budget cap of R44 billion to cater to all those that qualify for the grant, Minister Lindiwe Zulu said in July that the department intended to ease the criteria.

They also demanded the removal of the clause forcing applicants to reapply every three months.

In June, the Black Sash Trust, through its legal representatives, the Centre for Applied Legal Studies, launched litigation against the government over what it said were unfair regulations that govern the SRD grant.

Pay The Grants movement acknowledged the amendments gazetted, but said they were bitterly disappointed that these were the only changes made. Co-ordinator Melanie Mckernan said the amendments failed to address the many long-standing issues with the SRD’S administration and delivery, as the five regulations gazetted were insufficient to address the challenges beneficiaries were facing and the administrative and technical challenges and delays in payments.

“If anything, we are frustrated at seeing more meaningful justice being denied, as it appears the court case was prevented by these amendments,” she said.

Mckernan said some of the crucial comments made last month – like the application and appeals process and the clause that gives the department and Sassa the right to collect monies that were paid in the previous SRD period – were not addressed and needed to be as a matter of urgency.

“Even as we provide detailed critique on the existing amendments, they are still totally insufficient in terms of the most basic survival or dignity of millions of people in South Africa. We will continue to fight for these problems to be fixed, and to hold to account anyone who attempts to block our attempts,” she said.

Black Sash said it acknowledged the effort made by department for more to qualify for the grant, but submitted that the income threshold should be R1335.