The Department of Social Development (DSD) is amending the Regulations relating to the Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant in terms of the Social Assistance Act.
The amendments are limited to changing the expiry date of the grant, from March 2023 to March 2024. Aside from that, they leave all aspects of the Regulations unchanged, including the value of the grant, which remains woefully inadequate at R350 per month.
In light of the repeated threats to the continuation of the SRD grant since 2021, we welcome its extension. However, we are deeply concerned that the extension is limited to twelve months.
This, alongside the fact that there is no allocation to fund the grant after March 2024 in the tabled 2023/24 National Budget, signals a possible intention to withdraw the grant in a year’s time.
On Tuesday 7 March, the Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) and the Socio-Economic Rights Institute (SERI) submitted joint comments to DSD on the draft amendment. The submission details key concerns relating to Government handling of this critically important grant, and the failure of the Regulations to address systemic issues which civil society has repeatedly raised over the past year.
In the context of a skyrocketing cost of living for the poorest households (with food inflation at 13.4% in January 2023), the removal of the SRD grant will worsen already alarming levels of food insecurity; as will the failure to increase its value which has been massively eroded by inflation since 2020.
The SRD grant must be retained indefinitely, and its value raised to at least account for inflation since 2020, until it can be replaced by a more extensive and comprehensive system of basic income support for people of working age, at the value of at least the Food Poverty Line and increasing over time to the Upper-Bound Poverty Line.
The Constitution requires the government to progressively realise social assistance for those who need it, and cutting funding for and removing the SRD grant would be a retrogression of rights provided for in the Constitution.
In addition, we are dismayed that the amendment process has failed to address the myriad aspects of unfairness which have resulted in millions of poor people being excluded from the SRD grant since the current Regulations were introduced.
At its height (in March 2022), 10.9 million people relied on the SRD grant to survive. Following the introduction of the Regulations in April 2022 that number plummeted, and as at February 2023 it remains about three million below March 2022 levels. This is due to exclusionary aspects of the Regulations including a punitively low means-test (of R350, later raised to R624), alongside flawed and unjust systems of application, verification, payment and appeals.
Our submission discusses these flaws and injustices at length, and puts forward a series of recommendations for the improvement of the Regulations and administration of the SRD grant.
National Treasury’s claim that there are no resources to fund the grant is patently false, as government reported a R94 billion revenue overrun in the recent Budget. Rather than using this fiscal space to address our crisis of hunger, Treasury is choosing to prioritise reducing the country’s debt more aggressively than is necessary.
The grant must be retained, extended and improved, and must form the basis of a basic income grant which will assist in tackling South Africa’s triple crisis of unemployment, poverty and inequality.
[ENDS]
Amaarah is a Junior Programme Officer in the Rethinking Economics for Africa project. She is currently studying towards her Masters in Applied Development Economics at Wits University. 
Dr James Musonda is the Senior Researcher on the Just Energy Transition at the IEJ. He is also the Principal Investigator for the Just Energy Transition: Localisation, Decent Work, SMMEs, and Sustainable Livelihoods project, covering South Africa, Ghana, and Kenya.
Dr Basani Baloyi is a Co-Programme Director at the IEJ. She is a feminist, development economist and activist. She gained her research experience while working on industrial policy issues in academia, at the Centre For Competition, Regulation and Economic Development (CCRED) and Corporate Strategy and Industrial Development (CSID) Unit.
Dr Andrew Bennie is Senior Researcher in Climate Policy and Food Systems at the IEJ. He has extensive background in academic and civil society research, organising, and activism. Andrew has an MA in Development and Environmental Sociology, and a PhD in Sociology on food politics, the agrarian question, and collective action in South Africa, both from the University of the Witwatersrand.
Juhi holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations and Sociology from Wits University and an Honours degree in Development Studies from the University of Cape Town. Her current research focus is on social care regimes in the South African context, with a particular focus on state responses to Early Childhood Development and Long-Term Care for older persons during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her other research areas include feminist economics, worlds of work and the care economy.
Bandile Ngidi is the Programme Officer for Rethinking Economics for Africa. Bandile has previously worked at the National Minimum Wage Research Initiative and Oxfam South Africa. He holds a Masters in Development Theory and Policy from Wits University. He joined the IEJ in August 2018. Bandile is currently working on incubating the Rethinking Economics for Africa movement (working with students, academics and broader civil society). 
Liso Mdutyana has a BCom in Philosophy and Economics, an Honours in Applied Development Economics, and a Masters in Applied Development Economics from Wits University. His areas of interest include political economy, labour markets, technology and work, and industrial policy. Through his work Liso aims to show the possibility and necessity of economic development that prioritises human wellbeing for everyone.
Joan Stott holds a Bachelor of Business Science in Economics and a Master’s in Economics from Rhodes University. She brings to the IEJ a wealth of experience in public finance management, policy development, institutional capacity-building, and advancing socioeconomic and fiscal justice.
Siyanda Baduza is a Junior Basic Income Researcher at IEJ. He holds a BSc in Economics and Mathematics, an Honours degree in Applied Development Economics, and is currently completing a Master’s degree in Applied Development Economics at the University of the Witwatersrand. Siyanda’s research focuses on the impacts of social grants on wellbeing, with a particular focus on the gendered dynamics of this impact. His interests include applied micro-economics, policy impact evaluation, labour markets, gender economics, and political economy. He is passionate about translating economic research into impactful policy.
Shikwane is a Junior Programme Officer at IEJ focusing on civil society support and global governance in the G20. He has a background in legal compliance, IT contracting and student activism. He holds degrees in Political Studies and International Relations, as well as an LLB, from the University of the Witwatersrand.
Dr Tsega is a Senior Researcher focusing on Women’s Economic Empowerment within the G20. She examines gender equity in economic policy, with expertise in food systems and small enterprise development. She holds a PhD in development studies from the University of the Western Cape, an MA in Development Economics, and degrees in Development Studies and Economics from UNISA and Addis Ababa University.
Nerissa is a G20 Junior Researcher at IEJ, focusing on advancing civil society priorities within the G20 framework. She bridges data, research, and policy to advance inclusive economic frameworks. She is completing a Master’s in Data Science (e-Science) at the University of the Witwatersrand, and holds Honours and Bachelor’s Degrees in International Relations with distinction. She has worked as a Research Fellow at SAIIA and a Visiting Research Fellow at Ipea in Brazil.
Dr Mzwanele is a Senior Researcher supporting South Africa’s G20 Sherpa with policy research. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Birmingham and an MSc from the University of the Witwatersrand. His work covers open macroeconomics, trade, finance, and higher education policy, and he has published widely on inequality, unemployment, household debt and higher education curriculum reform.
Kamal is the Project Lead for IEJ’s G20 work, focusing on sovereign debt and development finance. He holds a BComm (Hons) in Applied Development Economics from the University of the Witwatersrand and an Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters in Economic Policies for the Global Transition. He has worked with SCIS, UNCTAD and co-founded Rethinking Economics for Africa.