The Case for Extending the COVID-19 Special Grants

The Institute for Economic Justice argues that allowing COVID-19 special grants to expire in October 2020 would plunge over 5.8 million South Africans into hunger. The report highlights that 37% of people ran out of money for food in June 2020 and that 2.8 million jobs remained lost by the end of that month. It recommends extending the R350 Social Relief of Distress grant and the R500 Caregivers Allowance until March 2021 and increasing both to the food poverty line of R585 per month, estimating a combined cost of R37.3 billion for current recipients.

• South Africa is facing a multifaceted humanitarian crisis where 37% of people ran out of money for food in June 2020, a figure more than double that of 2016. Approximately 70% of adults currently live below the Upper Bound Poverty Line of R1268 per person per month.
• The economic impact of the pandemic has been severe, with 2.2 million people losing employment in the second quarter of 2020 and an estimated 2.8 million jobs lost by the end of June 2020.
• The COVID-19 grant and Caregivers Allowance have significantly mitigated hunger; without extra support, 9.8 million people would face hunger, but the current grant package reduces this to 4.1 million.
• If the Social Relief of Distress grant and Caregivers Allowance expire at the end of October, it is estimated that between 5.7 million and 5.8 million more South Africans will be pushed into hunger and destitution in November.
• The document recommends extending both grants until March 2021 and increasing them to the food poverty line of R585 per month. The total cost to extend these two grants at this level for current recipients is R37.3 billion, which is less than 7.5% of the R500 billion rescue package.

APA

Institute for Economic Justice (2020). The Case for Extending the COVID-19 Special Grants. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/IEJ-COVID-19-factsheet-5-%E2%80%93-SRD-FINAL.pdf

Chicago

Institute for Economic Justice. The Case for Extending the COVID-19 Special Grants. 2020. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/IEJ-COVID-19-factsheet-5-%E2%80%93-SRD-FINAL.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Economic Justice |title=The Case for Extending the COVID-19 Special Grants |date=October 2020 |url=https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/IEJ-COVID-19-factsheet-5-%E2%80%93-SRD-FINAL.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforeconomicjustice2020case, author = {{Institute for Economic Justice}}, title = {{The Case for Extending the COVID-19 Special Grants}}, institution = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2020}, month = oct, url = {https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/IEJ-COVID-19-factsheet-5-%E2%80%93-SRD-FINAL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }