With around 46% of South Africans being recipients of social support grants, distributing all these grants presents challenges to the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa).
More than 10 million people have been approved for the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant. However many are yet to receive their money. The grant was introduced in 2020 to help shield vulnerable people from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.
Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu said that she is not happy with the turnaround time between people applying for grants and receiving their money.
The minister however does acknowledge that before the SRD grant was announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa, the agency had to put systems in place to ensure people are paid their grant money.
She adds that she is happy that Sassa will be getting the budget from the treasury which will enable them to improve their systems.
Zulu said, “if you can't improve your systems you can't respond to the people adequately and fast enough”.
The SRD grant is expected to come to an end in March 2022. However, Minister Zulu says she wants the grant to continue.
“I'm hoping that it's going to continue, the people are looking out for it and we can promise South Africans from a Department of Social Development that we want people to be empowered so even if they get the R350 we're gonna look at how else can they be empowered through job creation” concluded Zulu.
