Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu emphasised the significant impact of social assistance programmes including the provision of social grants on education and economic participation in South Africa.The Minister was speaking during the State of the Nation Address (SONA) Debate.
During the SONA speech last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant would be extended and improved. They underscored the importance of its implementation in assisting the unemployed who were unable to seek employment during the pandemic and related lockdowns.
The President also said the country’s social grant system, administered by the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has several positive impacts including increasing school enrollments, attendance, and pass rates as well as reducing dropout rates.
Social assistance has been shown to increase school enrolment and attendance, lower drop-out rates, and improve the pass rate.
Minister Zulu explained that government progressively expanded social protection coverage from 2.4 million in 1994 to 28 million beneficiaries in 2024.
We are currently providing regular income support each month without fail, to more than 4 million older persons, about 1 million adults with disabilities and 160 000 children with disabilities. More than 13 million children from poor households receive the Child Support Grant, while a further 237 000 children are supported through our Foster Care Grant.
Minister Zulu highlighted the performance of social grant beneficiaries in the 2023 National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams. Out of the 897,775 Grade 12 learners who participated in the NSC exams, 543,786 were full-time learners benefiting from social grants. Notably, 62 out of the top 110 performers are social grant beneficiaries.
202,156 social grant learners received a Bachelor's pass, which gained them access to further their studies at institutions of higher learning through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).
Minister Zulu also criticised members of option parties arguing that the government has always been committed to supporting vulnerable citizens.
Members of the opposition want to conveniently forget about all that because of selective memory. This is a fact and facts do not lie.
The minister pointed to the implantation of the SRD grant as an example of this which was introduced to mitigate the pandemic's impact on lives and livelihoods. Currently, more than 8 million unemployed adults receive income support, amounting to a total budget of R266 billion this year. Approximately R22 billion is injected directly into the economy monthly, targeting those most in need.
This in turn stimulates key sectors of our economy, what in economic terms is referred to as the multiplier effect. The positive spin-offs of this investment are reflected in numerous local reports and international studies.
Minister Zulu emphasised the effectiveness of social assistance programmes in poverty alleviation and redistribution.
Today, the social assistance programme is the most enduring and one of the biggest poverty alleviation and redistribution interventions by this administration.
