Government must clarify its commitment to social grants

The Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) expresses concern over contradictions between the South African President's commitment to a permanent basic income support system and the actions of the National Treasury. The IEJ highlights issues including budget cuts to social grants, the potential imposition of an exclusionary online-only application system on other grants, and Treasury's legal claims that the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant was only a temporary Covid-19 response.

• The South African President committed in February and July 2024 to establishing a permanent system of basic income support for working-aged adults by building upon an improved Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant, a policy the Department of Social Development (DSD) is reportedly finalising.
• The October 2024 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) reduced social grant allocations by over R20 billion in 2025 and initially omitted a specific allocation for the SRD grant in the 2025/26 budget, leading to interpretations that the grant would be terminated.
• The National Treasury is accused of acting unilaterally to undermine social grant policies by proposing to migrate other grants, such as old-aged and child support grants, to the SRD's online-only application system, which the IEJ describes as 'massively exclusionary'.
• In a Pretoria High Court case brought by the IEJ and #PTG, the National Treasury argued that the SRD grant was a temporary response to the Covid crisis, that there was no commitment to make it permanent, and that expanding the grant was not financially possible.
• Treasury officials have floated a 'workseekers grant' proposal, which would require applicants to prove they are actively seeking work, despite such conditionalities being described as counterproductive and exclusionary for the South African labour market.

APA

Institute for Economic Justice (2024). Government must clarify its commitment to social grants. https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/ubic-statement-government-must-clarify-its-commitment-to-social-grants/

Chicago

Institute for Economic Justice. Government must clarify its commitment to social grants. 2024. https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/ubic-statement-government-must-clarify-its-commitment-to-social-grants/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Institute for Economic Justice |title=Government must clarify its commitment to social grants |date=10 December 2024 |url=https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/ubic-statement-government-must-clarify-its-commitment-to-social-grants/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{instituteforeconomicjustice2024government, author = {{Institute for Economic Justice}}, title = {{Government must clarify its commitment to social grants}}, publisher = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2024}, month = dec, url = {https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/ubic-statement-government-must-clarify-its-commitment-to-social-grants/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }