Joint Statement: Amendments to SRD Regulations do not respond to the plight of people living in poverty

A joint statement by the Universal Basic Income Coalition criticizing the Department of Social Development and National Treasury for failing to address systemic barriers and insufficient funding in the amended COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Grant Regulations.

• The Universal Basic Income Coalition argues that the recent amendments to the COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Grant Regulations are insufficient because they only extend the payment expiry date to March 2024 without addressing the grant amount, means testing, or application and verification processes.
• The Coalition identifies several exclusionary measures that prevent the most vulnerable from accessing the R350 grant, including an English-only online platform, a low-income threshold of R624 that no longer aligns with poverty measures, invasive questionnaires, and flawed government databases and bank verification processes.
• There is a significant gap between the number of applicants and those approved for the grant; as of January 2023, only 7.48 million people were approved out of over 13.5 million applications, representing a decrease of 3.5 million approved beneficiaries compared to March 2022.
• The Coalition proposes increasing the monthly SRD grant from R350 to at least the monthly Food Poverty Line of R663 (2022 Rands), with a long-term goal of a permanent Universal Basic Income Grant for people aged 18 to 59 valued at the Upper Bound Poverty Line of R1,417 (2022 Rands).
• The Coalition disputes National Treasury's claims of unaffordability, noting a R94 billion revenue overrun in the recent Budget and alleging that the government is prioritizing debt reduction over the hunger crisis.

APA

Institute for Economic Justice (2023). Joint Statement: Amendments to SRD Regulations do not respond to the plight of people living in poverty. https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/joint-statement-amendments-to-srd-regulations-do-not-respond-to-the-plight-of-people-living-in-poverty/

Chicago

Institute for Economic Justice. Joint Statement: Amendments to SRD Regulations do not respond to the plight of people living in poverty. 2023. https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/joint-statement-amendments-to-srd-regulations-do-not-respond-to-the-plight-of-people-living-in-poverty/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Institute for Economic Justice |title=Joint Statement: Amendments to SRD Regulations do not respond to the plight of people living in poverty |date=4 April 2023 |url=https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/joint-statement-amendments-to-srd-regulations-do-not-respond-to-the-plight-of-people-living-in-poverty/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{instituteforeconomicjustice2023joint, author = {{Institute for Economic Justice}}, title = {{Joint Statement: Amendments to SRD Regulations do not respond to the plight of people living in poverty}}, publisher = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2023}, month = apr, url = {https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/joint-statement-amendments-to-srd-regulations-do-not-respond-to-the-plight-of-people-living-in-poverty/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }