SRD grants meant to be a temporary measure, says ANC NEC

The African National Congress (ANC) National Executive Committee has a long list of objectives for 2025.

NEC members announced the interventions during the second day of their national lekgotla held on Johannesburg’s east rand this weekend.

The plan focuses on unemployment, access to basic services and improving the effectiveness of municipalities.

SRD grants a safety net

This year marks the 70^th anniversary of the signing of the Freedom Charter, and alleviating the financial strains on households is a primary goal of the party’s work this year.

To accomplish this, the NEC is proposing VAT exemptions for electricity, a fuel price cap and the expansion of the list of zero-rated food items to include nutritious products.

They also suggest pursuing a universal basic income grant and establishing an emerging industrialist fund to kickstart “reindustrialisation”.

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To engage the youth, Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Zuko Godlimpi touted the establishment of a South African National Defence Force-led national youth service to drive skills development and employment opportunities.

The NEC said it would need to engage with treasury on these matters, but stated they aim to address municipal debt within six months, and called for the ringfencing of water revenue in order to deal with maintenance and infrastructure challenges.

Godlimpi elaborated on the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant, stating that the NEC did not want to increase the number of people on the SRD grant as it was designed to be a safety net while beneficiaries find work.

“Our belief is once we fix the performance of the economy and once we get these labour-intensive programmes going, automatically people will fall off the SRD.

Electricity for all

Minister of Electricity and Energy Kgosientsho Ramakgopa revealed his plan to provide “electricity for all”.

He said that too many households were still experiencing periods without electricity, while 1.5 million households were still without basic electricity connections.  

To eliminate load reduction, Ramakgopa said It began with addressing the causes of load reduction such as illegal connections and the bypassing of meters.

Building more infrastructure and “innovative solutions” were key objectives, as was improved metering that would allow for greater revenue collection.

An expanded network would allow Eskom to provide free basic electricity to qualifying households, said the minister.

“It’s the next frontier. The same amount of energy and resolve that we summoned to address and make the kind of advances that we have made on loadshedding, are the same that will apply in relation to load reduction,” said Ramakgopa.

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