The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) disburses millions of Sassa grants every month to South Africans who need financial assistance with a large number of these Sassa payments being for the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant.
On Wednesday afternoon, Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana, presented the Annual Budget Speech and announced that the SRD grant, which was set to come to an end in March 2025, will be extended for another year. Now, the government has set March 2026 as its end date.
The COVID19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD), in its current form, will be extended by a year to end March 2026. R35.2 billion is allocated for this purpose.
“The SRD will be used as a basis for the introduction of a sustainable form of income support for unemployed people,” said the Minister.
The future structure and nature of the SRD grant will be determined by the findings of a review of active labour market programmes, which is expected to be completed by September 2025.
This will likely see the government introduce a Basic Income Grant.
The Department of Social Development (DSD) confirmed consultations will continue regarding implementing Basic Income Support. Their goal is to submit a draft policy to parliament in the next 2025/2026 financial year.
An amount of R35.2 billion is allocated to extend the payment at the current [SRD] R370 per month per beneficiary, including administration costs.
The extension of the SRD grant aims to provide a safety net while the BIS policy is finalised.
