The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has revealed that more than 5.2 million people have been approved for Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant payments with about 4 million receiving payment. This is less than half than the number of people who received the grant at the beginning of 2022.
Earlier this year, the SRD grant was extended by 12 months. However, during the course of this extension the legislation under which the grant is provided has changed.
When President Cyril Ramaphosa ended the National State Of Disaster in April, the SRD grant could no longer be provided under the Disaster Management Act. Alternative legislation had to be used to provide the grant to citizens.
The Department of Social Development (DSD) later announced that the SRD grant would be provided under the Social Assistance Act. One consequence of this resulted in less people relieving the grant.
Under the Disaster Management Act, the income threshold for the SRD grant was R595. However, this dropped to R350 under the Social Assistance act. Income threshold refers to the amount of money that an applicant of the SRD grant is allowed to have in their bank account.
This meant that only half of the 10.8 million people who benefited from the grant when the income threshold was R595, qualified for the grant when the income threshold was changed to R350.
The DSD have gazetted a proposal that could see the grants income threshold increased to R624. This would see more people benefit from the crucial relief mechanism. Click Here To See The SRD Grant Requirements If This Proposal Is Accepted.
