The Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, presented the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) to Parliament on Wednesday afternoon. During his speech, the Minister revealed that South Africa is experiencing having a weaker revenue but that the "most immediate spending pressures will be addressed".
In the Main Budget, announced earlier this year in February, it was revealed that R33.6 billion would be allocated to the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Grant. The Minister has now announced that this budget would be increased.
During the MTBPS, Godongwana said:
Compared to our estimates in February, expenditure for this year will increase ... R2.7 billion expenditure that was announced at the time of the main budget, mainly for the COVID-19 social relief of distress grant.
An extra R2.7 billion will now be allocated, mainly towards the funding of the SRD grant.
The SRD grant received provisional budgetary allocations for 2025/26 and 2026/27. This means that should the government see fit, the implementation of the grant would be extended until March 2027.
The Minister also revealed that they "will be harnessing digital infrastructure to roll out critical systems in the provision of service delivery". This includes digitising and simplifying the Sassa application and Sassa grant payment processes.
National Treasury expects that grant beneficiaries, excluding those receiving the R370 Sassa Grant, are projected to increase from 18.8 million in 2023/24 to 19.7 million in 2026/27.
Sassa Committed To Improving System Integrity
Sassa spokesperson, Paseka Letsatsi said the agency's leadership has resolved to roll out a nationwide system of biometric security to address fraud.
We were just trying to see how quick the system is to check that people who are trying to penetrate the system are indeed people who are trying to get the R370 [grant].
Sassa is also moving to a policy that only allows individuals with smart IDs to apply for the SRD grant. Applications for the SRD grant also cannot be made in person at Sassa Offices like other grants and can only be made online.
