The President made the announcement during the State of the Nation Address (SoNA) on Thursday, 6 February 2025 under the theme of “A Nation That Works For All”.
Ramaphosa explained that an integrated system will ensure vulnerable people can apply for and receive all the social assistance they require without the burden of approaching different government entities.
Rather than the need for those individuals to approach several government entities separately, a citizen should be able to go to one place to receive all the support that they need.
Currently, 60% of the country’s budget is spent on the social wage. The "social wage" refers to state-provided benefits and services designed to combat poverty and inequality. This crucial safety net includes financial aid like social grants for vulnerable groups such as the elderly, disabled individuals, and children.
Beyond direct payments, the social wage also gives citizens access to free basic services like water, electricity, and sanitation for low-income households. It also guarantees free basic education and offers subsidized or free healthcare, especially for pregnant women, children, and those living in poverty.
Today, we spend around 60 percent of our national budget on the social wage: on health, education, social protection, community development and public employment programmes.
The President revealed that more than 28 million vulnerable and unemployed people receive social assistance while more than 10 million children attend public schools which don’t require fees.
The government also makes provision for further education with more than 900,000 students being funded by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) in 2024.
NSFAS provides comprehensive bursaries and student loans to students from poor and working-class families enrolled in approved courses at universities and TVET colleges. NSFAS funding covers tuition and registration fees, as well as several allowances for food, accommodation, and learning materials.
Through these programmes, we are alleviating the worst effects of poverty, we are providing the means to which South Africans can rise above poverty that has been passed down from one generation to the next.
While the president praised the impact of the social wage, he conceded that much more work still needs to be done to eliminate poverty in South Africa. This as many of the social support programmes provided by the government are “fragmented” and inaccessible, hence the need for an integrated social support system.
We must do much more to ensure that women in particular no longer face the hopeless task to feed and clothe their children.
SRD Grant
The President announced that the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant will be used as a basis for the introduction of a sustainable form of basic income support.
Introduced in 2020, the SRD grant is the only financial support available to unemployed adults in South Africa. However, not every unemployed adult automatically qualifies for the grant.
To qualify for the SRD grant, applicants must meet the following criteria: they must be between the ages of 18 and 59, unemployed, have a bank balance not exceeding R629, and not benefit from other government support, such as the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) or NSFAS.
