Joint Press Statement: Civil Society takes the Government to Court for unfair and exclusionary Social Relief of Distress Grant Regulations

Civil society is challenging the South African government in the High Court in Pretoria over the social relief of distress (SRD) grant regulations. The litigation targets the R350 monthly means test, which the authors argue is below the food poverty line of R624 and excludes millions of needy citizens. The statement highlights systemic failures, including the non-payment of April and May 2022 grants due to delayed bank verification systems and an online-only application process that creates barriers for the poor. The authors advocate for the replacement of the SRD grant with a permanent universal basic income grant (UBIG) by March 2023 to eliminate poverty and stimulate the economy.

• Civil society is challenging the SRD grant's R350 monthly means test in the High Court in Pretoria, arguing it is arbitrary and unconstitutional. The authors note that this threshold is significantly lower than the South African food poverty line of R624 per month, which is the amount required per person to avoid starvation.
• The government failed to pay SRD grants for April and May 2022 as promised by mid-June. This delay is attributed to a failure to implement the means-testing system, as concurrence from the Minister of Finance to facilitate bank account verification was only received on 30 April, and agreements with all banks were not reached by mid-June.
• The SRD grant regulations contain several exclusionary elements being challenged in court: the requirement that applications be made exclusively through an online system, the prioritization of bank verification over other applicant-provided evidence, and the prohibition of new evidence during the appeals process.
• The government capped the SRD grant budget to cover only 10.5 million beneficiaries, despite government data indicating that 18.3 million people live below the food poverty line. This budget cap is described as a result of a strategy of austerity.
• The authors call for the introduction of a permanent universal basic income grant (UBIG) for all South Africans aged 18-59, to be implemented immediately following the SRD grant's expiry in March 2023. They argue the grant should start at the food poverty line and eventually reach the upper-bound poverty line.

APA

Institute for Economic Justice (2022). Joint Press Statement: Civil Society takes the Government to Court for unfair and exclusionary Social Relief of Distress Grant Regulations. https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/joint-press-statement-civil-society-takes-the-government-to-court-for-unfair-and-exclusionary-social-relief-of-distress-grant-regulations/

Chicago

Institute for Economic Justice. Joint Press Statement: Civil Society takes the Government to Court for unfair and exclusionary Social Relief of Distress Grant Regulations. 2022. https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/joint-press-statement-civil-society-takes-the-government-to-court-for-unfair-and-exclusionary-social-relief-of-distress-grant-regulations/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Institute for Economic Justice |title=Joint Press Statement: Civil Society takes the Government to Court for unfair and exclusionary Social Relief of Distress Grant Regulations |date=23 June 2022 |url=https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/joint-press-statement-civil-society-takes-the-government-to-court-for-unfair-and-exclusionary-social-relief-of-distress-grant-regulations/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{instituteforeconomicjustice2022joint, author = {{Institute for Economic Justice}}, title = {{Joint Press Statement: Civil Society takes the Government to Court for unfair and exclusionary Social Relief of Distress Grant Regulations}}, publisher = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2022}, month = jun, url = {https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/joint-press-statement-civil-society-takes-the-government-to-court-for-unfair-and-exclusionary-social-relief-of-distress-grant-regulations/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }