Budget 2023/2024 and the SRD grant

The document criticises the National Treasury for underfunding the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant and implementing exclusionary regulations. It highlights a significant drop in approved applications from 10.9 million in March 2022 to 7.5 million in January 2023, attributing this to a low means-test threshold of R624 and complex application processes. The IEJ calls for the grant to be increased to the Food Poverty Line of R663 and for the government to honour the President's commitment to protect grants from inflation.

• The Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant has experienced a significant decline in approved beneficiaries, falling from 10.9 million in March 2022 to approximately 7.5 million in January 2023, with over 6 million applications denied in that month alone.
• The IEJ asserts that the SRD grant's value has been frozen at R350 since 2020, resulting in a real-terms decrease of 20% by 2024, which contradicts the President's commitment to adjust existing grants for inflation.
• Exclusionary regulations and a low means-test threshold of R624 are identified as primary drivers for the drop in grant approvals, effectively excluding millions of people despite an estimated 18.3 million South Africans living in extreme poverty.
• Administrative failures have led to a situation where approximately 1.3 million people per month with approved applications have not received their payments over a three-month period.
• The IEJ recommends increasing the SRD grant to the Food Poverty Line (FPL) of R663 and raising the means test to the Upper Bound Poverty Line to ensure the grant meets the actual level of need.

APA

Institute for Economic Justice (2023). Budget 2023/2024 and the SRD grant. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/iej_statement_budget2023-and-SRD_20-february-2023.docx.pdf

Chicago

Institute for Economic Justice. Budget 2023/2024 and the SRD grant. 2023. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/iej_statement_budget2023-and-SRD_20-february-2023.docx.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Institute for Economic Justice |title=Budget 2023/2024 and the SRD grant |date=20 February 2023 |url=https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/iej_statement_budget2023-and-SRD_20-february-2023.docx.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{instituteforeconomicjustice2023budget, author = {{Institute for Economic Justice}}, title = {{Budget 2023/2024 and the SRD grant}}, publisher = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2023}, month = feb, url = {https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/iej_statement_budget2023-and-SRD_20-february-2023.docx.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }