The Department of Social Development (DSD) has published amendments to the regulations around the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant. These amendments seek to increase the number of people benefitting from the crucial relief.
The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has welcomed the changes made to the regulations that mean more people will qualify for the SRD grant. Under the previous regulations, only around 5 million people were eligible for the grant. However, more than 11 million applied for the grant in August.
These amendments resulted in the SRD grant income threshold increasing to the food poverty line of R624. This income refers to any money detected in an applicant's bank account. The income threshold refers to the maximum amount of money a person is allowed to have in their bank account and still qualify for the SRD grant.
Bank verification will no longer be the main criteria for determining eligibility and there will be no need for beneficiaries to answer questionnaires every three months to confirm that they need the SRD grant.
Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu has revealed that Sassa has faced several challenges with paying R350 grants to beneficiaries. They explained that this was due to applicants not providing their banking details.
Zulu said, “We encourage all applicants to provide us with their correct bank details so that we can timeously facilitate their grant payments”.
The DSD also revealed that grant recipients cannot unreasonably refuse to accept a job or education opportunities. This comes after the DSD agreed to share information with other government departments including the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure.
