More people now qualify for the R350 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant after the means test threshold was increased from R350 to R624.
Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu this week gazetted the new regulations to increase the income threshold to R624, which is the food poverty line set by Stats SA in September 2021.
The department said the reduced threshold was a factor in the number of declined applications.
The grant was initially introduced to assist struggling South Africans cushion the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Zulu says her department is proposing to increase the maximum allowable income to the food poverty line.
This means that the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) will decline any applicant who receives more than R624 into their bank account each month.
Zulu provides more clarity in the interview below:
Human rights advocacy group, Black Sash, has welcomed changes to the regulations around the grant.
Black Sash’s Jerome Bele says, “We really appreciate the adjustment that has been made by the Department of Social Development in terms of adjusting the application threshold where the government had set up an amount of R350 now has pushed it to R624 per month, which is something that will make a huge difference in people’s lives. As we all know, so many people were affected in terms of applying.”
