Extend the R350 grant by another year, ANC says
Poverty increased to 24% in 2020
As President Cyril Ramaphosa prepares to deliver the State of the Nation Address on Thursday, it has emerged that the ANC is pushing for the R350 social relief of distress grant to be extended by a year amid increasing levels of unemployment and poverty.
The governing party acknowledged that the rate of unemployment had increased “dramatically” over the past two-and-a-half decades, with brief declines in the mid-1990s and early 2000s.
Poverty has increased from 20% in 2014 to 24% in 2020, according to the food poverty line. Growth in food prices has exceeded growth in income, with most South Africans becoming poorer over the last decade, according to a document presented at the party’s national executive committee lekgotla a fortnight ago.
“The widespread violence and social unrest that South Africa witnessed in July has thrown into stark relief what we already knew, that the status quo of poverty, unemployment and inequality is untenable. There is a need to address the immediate crisis and to establish a social system that can create long-lasting stability and restore confidence and hope in the future,” the document states.
“In the immediate term, the only feasible option for expanded social protection is to extend the duration of the existing social relief of distress grant (SDR) for a further year while a permanent replacement is explored.”
This comes as pressure mounts on Ramaphosa to introduce the basic income grant (BIG). According to several reports, Ramaphosa has been warned by the Presidential Economic Advisory Council not to implement a BIG as the multibillion-rand cost could hinder economic growth.
A civil society group comprised Black Sash, Institute for Economic Justice and Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute recently met Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana and Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu to advance their cause.
They, too, proposed an immediate extension of the SRD grant, expanding its eligibility criteria and increasing the amount to R624.