Grant Archives - Voice of the Cape

‘There’s been under-expenditure of close to R2 billion on Social Relief of Distress grant’

LOCAL Social Development Minister, Lindiwe Zulu says there’s been under-expenditure of close to R2 billion on the Social Relief of Distress grant. Zulu says this was caused by the eligibility criteria for confirming bank accounts. The grant provides monetary assistance to the unemployed who were hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the minister, a huge number of applications were excluded due to the inadequate verification of bank accounts. The […]

19 November 2022

Local

Caregivers of orphans encouraged to access child support grant top-up

LOCAL While the means test threshold to qualify to be a recipient of the social relief of distress (SRD) grant has been increased from R350 to R624, social development minister Lindiwe Zulu says they may have to consider a further adjustment to the threshold to enable more applicants to qualify. On Monday Zulu held a briefing on the child support top-up and R350 Covid-19 SRD grants. Regarding payments, Zulu said […]

11 October 2022

Local

Government’s proposals to replace SRD grants slammed

LOCAL Civil society organisation, Pay The Grants has slammed government’s proposals to replace the Social Relief of Distress Grant (SRD) with Job Seekers Grant. The organisation has echoed the Institute for Economic Justice which says the proposals are designed to exclude as many people as possible. In discussion documents, the Presidency and the National Treasury have suggested options for new grants to replace the Social Relief of Distress grant. The SRD grant […]

9 September 2022

Local

More people to qualify for the R350 Social Relief of Distress grant

LOCAL More people now qualify for the R350 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant after the means test threshold was increased from R350 to R624. Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu this week gazetted the new regulations to increase the income threshold to R624, which is the food poverty line set by Stats SA in September 2021. The department said the reduced threshold was a factor in the number of declined applications. The […]

18 August 2022

Local

Sassa to help R350 grant recipients find jobs

LOCAL Social development minister Lindiwe Zulu says the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) is working on a plan to help those receiving the R350 social relief distress grant (SRD) find work. Zulu revealed this while responding to a written parliamentary question from the EFF. The red berets asked “what measures of intervention will her department take to accommodate the more than 500,000 people that will be excluded from the SRD due to […]

16 August 2022

Local

Payment of R350 grant expected to begin in mid-June

LOCAL The Social Security Agency (SASSA) says payments for the new round of Social Relief of Distress grants are expected to begin in mid-June. It comes after over 10 million people, who applied to receive the new round of R350 grants in April, were not paid over the past two months. The Social Development Department says the grant, which was extended in the February budget, will be provided until March 2023. Dr. Kelle […]

9 June 2022

Local

Sassa apologises to grant beneficiaries affected by paypoint changes

LOCAL As millions prepare to collect their social grants, the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) has apologised to affected grant beneficiaries who can’t withdraw their money at regular pay points. Earlier this month, Sassa announced that beneficiaries will no longer receive their payments at SA Post Office (Sapo) branches due to “cash challenges” that are preventing people from collecting their social grants at cash pay points, including the post office. […]

24 May 2022

Local

SA Post Office will no longer pay R350 grants at it branches

LOCAL The SA Post Office (Sapo) has announced it will no longer pay the R350 social relief of distress (SRD) grant through its branches. Sapo spokesperson Johan Kruger said the move will help alleviate long queues at its branches. He said a new round of applications for the R350 SRD grant is open and includes options for beneficiaries to choose where to collect their grants. “The application app includes an […]

11 May 2022

Local

‘Basic income grants will not fix SA’s economy’, says Tito Mboweni

LOCAL Former finance minister and former governor of the SA Reserve Bank Tito Mboweni says fixing the country’s economy requires rebuilding infrastructure, not basic income grants. Mboweni, who was speaking at the PSG Konsult annual conference, shared insight into what he thinks SA needs to do to fix the social-economic crisis. He said economic growth will remain stagnant if government does not focus more on investment instead of social grants. […]

9 May 2022

Grant

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