Following all the buzz around the R350 grant offered by SASSA which comes to an end this month, many calls have come for government to introduce a Basic Income Grant. Well, President Ramaphosa has now addressed it.
This year the ANC government, and broader society, will need to continue discussions on the desirability and the viability of a basic income grant to provide a social safety net to poor people in our country.
The President was speaking at the 109th anniversary celebrations of the African National Congress (ANC).
It seems that government has now continued their conversations on this grant with Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu, speaking optimistically about the grant last year.
Zulu stated, "the BIG will result in most of the poorer individuals continuing to access the CoVID-19 SRD grant benefits."
This grant will be available to those aged between 18 and 59 who receive no income. The first groups who they will be targeting will be youth aged between 18 and 24 and the elderly aged between 50 and 59 as they were found to be the most vulnerable in the country.
The Basic Income Grant could be set at a total of R500 per person who qualifies.
On it's universality, Zulu said, "The BIG will be unconditional, individually-targeted and at the level that will lift individual South Africans out of poverty."
However, she recently stated that no formal decision has been made.
