Two civil society organisations, the Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) and #PayTheGrants (#PTG), have launched a court action that seeks to have the government increase the monetary value of the social relief of distress (SRD) grant and to change the grant’s eligibility criteria to allow for more beneficiaries.
#PTG and the IEJ allege that the regulations that govern the R350 SRD grant’s value, eligibility criteria, application procedures and the manner in which the grant has been implemented have excluded millions of people, violating their right to social assistance and food.
The grant was introduced at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic three years ago to cushion the poor against the economic effects of the pandemic. It was extended several times until March 2024 thanks to a tax windfall from mining companies that allowed finance minister Enoch Godongwana to pay down debt and provide personal tax relief in 2022.
It is hoped the legal proceedings will highlight and secure solutions to the unfair and unlawful exclusion of millions of vulnerable, poor and hungry people from accessing and benefiting from the SRD grant.
— Joint statement from the IEJ and #PTG
But the government has gradually made the requirements for applicants more stringent, thereby decreasing the number of beneficiaries.
This includes the over-broad definition of income used to measure whether an applicant falls below the means-test threshold, the unlawful questions in the online application form, the online-only application process and the bank and database verification processes, according to the IEJ’s director, Gilad Isaacs.
The SRD was initially intended for unemployed adults and later to adults with little or no income.
‘Bureaucratic obstacles’
In court papers filed this week, Isaacs says at 16-million people should qualify for the grant, which is now available for people who have an income below R624 regardless of their unemployment status, but many either do not qualify or are discouraged from applying because of a “range of bureaucratic obstacles and criteria”.
“In March 2023, approximately 14-million people applied for the grant [but] only 8.3-million of those were approved. At the peak of applications in March 2022, close to 16-million people applied for the grant. Many applicants have since been discouraged from applying,” Gilad says.
“In addition, even for those who receive the grant, high levels of inflation and the rising cost of living have subsequently reduced the cost of the grant in real terms since it was introduced in March 2020. The value of the SRD grant has remained R350 since it was introduced in March 2020.”
The SRD grant reaches 7.97-million people, according to government data. The Treasury allocated an extra R36bn to the SRD grant in the 2023/24 fiscal year. Civil society groups and social development minister Lindiwe Zulu have been clamouring for the introduction of a basic income grant and the Treasury has been considering the possibilities.
“Government’s failure to meet its constitutional obligations has forced our organisations to bring this court case. It is hoped the legal proceedings will highlight and secure solutions to the unfair and unlawful exclusion of millions of vulnerable, poor and hungry people from accessing and benefiting from the SRD grant,” the IEJ and #PTG said in a joint statement on Thursday.
“SA’s crisis of hunger and deprivation is only growing. Social assistance is our most direct and effective tool for fighting hunger, and the constitution demands that government progressively realise the right to social assistance and to food.”
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