Calls for the Special Covid-19 R350 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant to be extended beyond March 2022 have been mounting, with requests to improve and extend the grant coming from many groups such as the Institute for Economic Justice, Black Sash Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute, #PayTheGrants, and Amandla.mobi.
The Civil Society Collective recently met with President Cyril Ramaphosa, Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu and Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana to discuss these requests as well as possible policy pathways to introduce the Basic Income Grant.
The R350 SRD grant has provided financial relief to about 10,3 million people in South Africa and the Civil Society Collective believe that extending this grant beyond the current closing date is crucial to saving livelihoods.
Institute of Economic Justice Researcher, Zimbali Mncube spoke to Newzroom Afrika says the group discussed the poverty, inequality and unemployment currently experienced by many South Africans and pathways towards a universal basic income grant which could provide relief to these individuals.
On the proposal of improving the R350 grant Mncube said:
The key proposals here was to improve the SRD grant to at least the food poverty line of R624 and in the long-term looking towards implementing a basic income grant for all.
He says that a pathway they discussed involved introducing a means test at the lower bound poverty line in the medium term and then phasing in a universal basic income grant in the long term.
Another pathway they discussed would see the R350 SRD grant being improved to the food poverty line at R624 from March 2022. Then by January 2023 a grant could be introduced at the food poverty line for individuals who fall below an income of R4 600, using the Child Support Grant income threshold or using an income tax of R7 000.
The third pathway would involve improving the current SRD grant to R624 and also looking towards using the means test of the upper bound poverty line as well as, eventually universalizing the grant. This would mean that the grant would cover any individual in the South African society.
Mncube says that there was a positive sentiment from the meeting but that no clear commitment was made by President Ramaphosa indicating that an alternative would be looked at to implement the basic income support.
