The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) building in Cape Town. Photo: AFP/Gallo Images/Nardus Engelbrecht
During his ‘family meeting’ address on Monday evening, President Cyril Ramaphosa said Sassa’s special R350 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant would remain in place, but the question is, until when?
Ramaphosa also said the Covid-19 Vaccine Injury No-Fault Compensation Scheme would ‘outlive’ the State of Disaster, which ended on 4 April 2022.
The SRD grant was introduced at the start of the Covid-19 outbreak in South Africa to bring much-needed relief to those affected by the pandemic.
Ramaphosa explained that these measures were introduced to “limit the great cost to society and the economy”.
Even though the state of disaster was terminated, the SRD grant will remain in place for the next thirty days. For now.
Ramaphosa said the transitional period “will enable the Department of Social Development to finalise the regulations that will allow the payment of the grant to continue”.
However, Ramaphosa said Covid-19 is not over, so going forward, the pandemic will be managed in terms of the National Health Act.
Members of the public are invited to comment on the draft Health Regulations, which will close on 16 April 2022.
Following that, the draft will be finalised and promulgated.
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Meanwhile, the South African Communist Party (SACP) called on the government to permanently maintain the SRD grant “to improve towards a universal basic income grant”.
The party’s general secretary, Dr Blade Nzimande, said the SRD grant would alleviate the financial burden of those currently battling unemployment.
If the grant remains in place beyond March 2023, it would greatly assist South Africa’s 10 million unemployed citizens, of which Black women and youth make up the largest percentage.
“Instead of terminating the SRD grant at the end of the first quarter of 2023, government should maintain the grant and consider improving it gradually towards a universal basic income grant as part of building a comprehensive social security system.”
READ: State of disaster finally over, but these rules remain
