Millions of South Africans applied for the Social Relief of Distress Grant (SRD) grant, however, high volumes of applications were also declined due to the new criteria set by the Department of Social Development. This department has announced changes to its criteria.
In April 2024, the state of disaster was lifted and the Social Relief of Distress Grant (SRD Grant) began to be administered under the new Social Assistance Act.
This changed the qualifying criteria for existing SRD grant beneficiaries. According to the Act, the income eligibility threshold for the SRD grant became R350.
Recently, the Department of Social Development (DSD) Minister Lindiwe Zulu made adjustments to this criteria.
In an statement, Zulu has confirmed:
The means test for the Social Relief of Distress grant has been raised from R350 to R624.
This comes after the department came under fire as lobby groups also wanted something to be done due to millions of SRD grant applications being declined.
With the income threshold being amended, it is then in line with the national food poverty line which is also R624.
According to Statistics South Africa, the adjustment in the national food poverty line is due to the cost of living.
During the 2024 State of the Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the SRD grant would be extended until March 2024.
Social Development has also been allocated an R44bn budget that can only accommodate 10.5-million SRD grant beneficiaries until the end of this period.
In a National Assembly meeting, Zulu confirmed that the National Treasury has made additional budget allocations to various government departments to create much-needed job opportunities.
According to the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa), this is aimed at assisting SRD grant beneficiaries in gaining access to employment opportunities.
Sassa is also in the process of establishing a data-sharing relationship with the Department of Public Works and the Department of Employment and Labour in order to make this a reality.
