A mountain of calls have come for the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) to increase the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant. Some of these calls have even come from the Social Development Minister, Lindiwe Zulu, who is in charge of Sassa as well as members of Parliament.
With the cost of living increasing and with beneficiaries only pocketing R350 every month, an increase is urgently needed. Now, the African National Congress (ANC) is said to have made promises to increase the grant.
At the launch of the ANC's manifesto review, Secretary-General for the political party, Fikile Mbalula, said:
The issue that is being looked at is to increase it ... The Minister of Finance, we have told him he must lead ... he said it is not correct that we have run out of money and that is encouraging.
"They have confirmed that there are challenges," said Mbalula.
Why Hasn't The R350 Grant Been Increased?
According to the Department of Social Development, the lack of an increase is due to "fiscal constraints." Despite the department's request to the National Treasury for an increase, it was not favourably considered due to these fiscal constraints.
Both the Social Development Minister, Lindiwe Zulu, and Brenda Sibeko, the Deputy Director-General at the department, have expressed their desire for an increase in the SRD grant. However, there has been no official confirmation of a grant increase, and it currently remains at the value of R350 per month.
Sassa Grant Increases
Sassa officially increased the value of grants on 1 October 2023. Almost all of the grants distributed by Sassa will be increased. However, the R350 grant and the Child Support Grant Top-Up will not be increased this month.
Sassa permanent grants including the Older person grants, disability grants, child support grants, foster child grants, war veterans grants and care dependency will all be increased by R10.
This means that the value of the Old age grant, Care Dependency grant, and Disability grant will rise to R2090, while the War Veterans Grant will see an increase to R2110.
The Finance Minister had initially announced these Sassa grant increases during the Budget Speech in February. The increasing number of grant beneficiaries and an upward adjustment in grant values means that government spending on grants will grow from R233 billion to R248.4 billion.
