R350 Grant Is Set to Be Extended

grant

R350 Grant Is Set to Be Extended

The Social Relief of Distress grant, which has helped unemployed South Africans financially, has reportedly been extended for another year.

The R350 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) has been supplied by the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) for more than a year, and according to The City Press, it is expected to be continued for another year.

President Cyril Ramaphosa hinted at an extension of this grant during a virtual address to Cosatu’s three-day Central Committee in September, saying that “serious consideration should be given to extending further support to the unemployed and those who are structurally marginalized, possibly in the form of the Covid-19 SRD grant.”

Several top government officials have allegedly told The City Press that they are certain that Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana will indeed announce the continuation of the SRD grant in his budget statement next February.

The temporary grant was implemented in 2020 when the country was under a state of emergency owing to the Covid-19 outbreak and many individuals had lost their employment.

Since its inception, there have been several requests for the government to make the award permanent and utilize it as a model for the implementation of a basic income grant, given the country’s high levels of poverty.

Despite the fact that the grant is under great strain, a presidential official has stated that the National Treasury would have to find funds to allocate to the SRD grant.

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