Almost half of South Africa’s population relies on government grants. This means that of the country’s 60 million citizens, almost 30 million are now dependent on social grants to survive.
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During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when the R350 Social Relief of Distress grant was put in place, the number of people getting social grants in the country went up.
Twenty-nine million South Africans now receive financial assistance from the government. This number includes social grants for pensioners, child support and disability, as well as 11 million of the country’s most vulnerable citizens who continue to receive the R350 Social Relief of Distress grant, which was introduced during the pandemic.
As reported by Times Live, at the African National Congress 111th Anniversary Celebrations, Cyril Ramaphosa told residents of Mangaung in Bloemfontein that the R350 grant was costing the country billions.
Ramaphosa said, “We realised that a lot of work places had closed due to Covid-19 and we had to increase grants for a short period. We increased the old age and child support grants. Upon further inspection, we realised that a lot of people were not working and we introduced a new R350 grant that now caters for 11-million people.”
“We are the only country here in Africa that is giving grants to almost half of its population because here in South Africa there are 60-million people and 29-million are getting money from the state every month. There is no other country in Africa that takes [care] of its people like we do here in South Africa.”
The conference resolved that the Social Relief of Distress Grant of R350 will continue to be paid up until a permanent basic income for the country’s most vulnerable citizens is in place, which the government is fully supporting. The information on the basic income grant amount and where the funding for the grant will come from has yet to be announced by the National Executive Committee (NEC).
Times Live reported that Social Development minister and NEC member Lindiwe Zulu said, “social grants for the unemployed were a good thing for the country and the debate of there being no money to fund it should be secondary.”
According to Zulu, there is a call for government intervention to assist the country’s indigent in the current economic climate, with the cost of living constantly rising.
Zulu said, “[Social grants are] a good thing, this country cannot afford to have hungry people. This country cannot afford to have people not having the basics. This country cannot afford to have people who can’t have soap and a face cloth to wash their bodies, toothpaste and toothbrush to brush their teeth, bread on the table. This country cannot afford that.”
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