Have you ever wondered if the R350 grant and the Social Relieve of Distress (SRD) grant are two separate grant? Well, let us help you clear up the confusion.
The answer is that there is no difference between them. Both terms refer to the same social grant, specifically that of the SASSA R350 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant.
The R350 SRD grant was first introduced in April 2020 as a government intervention to combat the loss of household income that occurred as a result of unemployment caused by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the country’s economy.
Disbursed by the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), the R350 SRD grant is mainly targeted towards providing monthly payouts to unemployed people who have no other source of income.
So far more than 9.5 million South Africans have benefited from it and almost 28 million South Africans are Sassa grant beneficiaries, which translates to 46% of the country’s population.
The grant is currently in its second cycle which was reintroduced in August this year and is due to end in March 2022.
During his Medium Term Budget Policy Statement last month the Minister of Finance, Enoch Godwangwana stated that the government is yet to determine whether the grant will be extended.
Despite this, trade unions and civic organisations have continued to put pressure on the government to extend the grant and introduce a basic income grant.
