GROUNDUP
Hundreds march demanding Ramaphosa address Basic Income Grant at State of the Nation Address
Civil society organisations want R350 SRD grant increased to R1,447.
Ahead of the upcoming State of the Nation Address (Sona), over 400 people, including members of civil society organisations, unemployed citizens and recipients of the Social Relief of Distress Grant (SRD), marched to the head offices of the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) and the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Thursday.
Government introduced the SRD grant in May 2020 during the Covid pandemic. Since then the grant has been repeatedly extended and is now due to expire next month. The marchers want President Cyril Ramaphosa to clearly lay out the state’s plans for a basic income grant at Sona on 9 February.
Thabisile Miya, from Amandla.mobi, said, “We have been working with communities especially R350 recipients since it started … Food is going up every day, and people don’t have any source of income.”
A memorandum of demands for Sassa included that the SRD be increased to R1,447, and that Sassa work with the Department of Social Development to fix numerous issues with grant payments.
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“From unfair regulations to means testing with an unfair qualifying threshold, and poor communication, many have lost hope in this grant, in Sassa and the government as a whole,” the memo reads.
Acting Sassa CEO Abraham Mahlangu received the memo.
In a memo to the President, marchers said they want social grants increased, higher taxes on those earning more than R1-million a year, and a net wealth tax introduced.
“We also appeal to the President to hold the Department of Social Development accountable for their failures in administering the R350 grant,” the memorandum read.
“We urge for the glitches to be fixed,” said Nosipho Bilankulu, an unemployed single mother. She said her grant money cannot keep pace with the rising cost of maize meal and cooking oil. Her child’s crèche fees are R400 alone, more than the SRD grant. Although she has the grant, there are months when the money doesn’t appear.
Presidency official Phil Mahlangu promised a response within seven days.
Community Organizing Working Group, Voices of the Concerned Citizens of Soweto, Sukuma Soweto Sinqobe, and Sisonke Revolutionary Movement all joined the march. MR
First published by GroundUp.
With this extra R300b expense, the 2023/24 budget allocation to grants, housing, education and health will top out at at R2,000,000,000,000 per year. Let’s assume 10 million poor households and 2 mill ion households that pay for their own housing, water, electricity, education, health etc. the 10 million households are actually not poor – they get R200k per year of free stuff. Paid for by the 2 million others. Let’s just go all out and make clothing, mobile phones and food free, then the Freedom struggle will have finally achieved FreeAnything.
We have become a nation of beggars in the last 29 years, so much for “ A Better Life For All “ BS.
In our experience the biggest single issue for people is an unpredictable and erratic payment cycle, Recipients never know if they will get the SRD grant in a given month or on what day it will get paid.