Ramaphosa hints again at expanding SRD grant – and will Treasury go ‘BIG’ this time?

President Cyril Ramaphosa has once again promised in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Thursday evening that the Social Relief Distress (SRD) grant will be expanded to create a more sustainable and improved source of income.

But once again, the details were lacking.

Sona SRD grant promises: What’s new, Cyril?

In previous Sonas, Ramaphosa has repeatedly indicated that basic income support is part of the government’s long-term vision.

At last year’s Sona, Ramaphosa said that the SRD grant will be used as a basis to create a more sustainable source of income for unemployed people.

“The Social Relief of Distress Grant is an essential mechanism for alleviating extreme poverty. We will use this grant as a basis for the introduction of a sustainable form of income support for unemployed people,” he said at the time.

Ramaphosa side-steps BIG elephant in the room

In delivering his seventh Sona on Thursday, the president however side-stepped the Basic Income Grant (BIG) “elephant in the room” by omitting to clarify government’s position and plans to transition the SRD grant.

Treasury to appeal landmark high court ruling in SRD grant case

Ramaphosa’s vague reference to the “expansion” of the grant comes against the backdrop of the Gauteng High Court’s landmark ruling in the Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) and #PayTheGrants coalition’s SRD court case victory against the Department of Social Development and Treasury.

In the run-up to the Sona, the IEJ expressed the hope that Ramaphosa would make “a clear announcement about the future of the grant and commit to urgently introducing amended regulations to replace the unlawful provisions struck down by the court”.

Just this week, Treasury, however, announced its intention to appeal the judgment.

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Fight for a permanent, inclusive SRD grant

The R370 SRD grant – which was introduced in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic – is currently one of the few sources of monthly financial support for 10.5 million people.

The government has treated the SRD grant as a temporary measure and has not accounted for it in its long-term budgeting. The grant’s validity has been each year and budgeted for in that financial year.

The grant was scheduled to come to an end in March this year, but the High Court judgment ruled that the SRD grant should be a permanent feature of the country’s social assistance programme.

The court also ruled that the affordability of the grant from a fiscal perspective cannot be cited as a reason to exclude people in poverty.

The Bureau for Economic Research said that this means that the qualifying recipients for the SRD could rise significantly this year to over 18 million. This would require an increase of about R35 billion per year.

Calls for basic income grant remain unanswered

Over the years, political parties, such as the GOOD, as well as civil society organisation Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute (Spii), have repeatedly called on the government to institute a basic income grant of R1,268.

National Treasury dismissed the viability of implementing this social relief measure again in October 2024 in its Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS), stating that it would cost the economy more than R400 billion per year, which is unaffordable without large tax increases.

Treasury’s cost calculation is based on the basic income grant potentially reaching 35 million people between the age of 18 and 60 years.

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Countdown to Budget Speech: How will Treasury expand SRD grant?

The Universal Basic Income Coalition urged the government to “follow the logic” of the recent high court ruling to ensure that “concrete commitments to improve and expand the SRD grant are clearly set out and that a roadmap that transitions it towards a BIG is developed”. 

With the 2025 Budget Speech around the corner on 18 February, all eyes are now fixed on finance Minister Enoch Godongwana to make good on Ramaphosa’s Sona promises with some concrete plans to expand the SRD grant.

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