Labour federation Saftu, says South Africa is not a poor country, and it can afford to give people a proper basic income grant that does more than keep them just above the poverty line.
The labour movement’s members have been vocal about the need for a basic income grant, and even demonstrated outside the city hall in Cape Town, last week, ahead of President Cyril Rampahosa’s State Of The Nation Address (SONA).
Ramaphosa said that the R350 social relief of distress grant, which has been disbursed during the COVID-19 pandemic, would be extended for a year – until March 2023.
Saftu’s General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, says that the grant is an insult to unemployed people.
“Three hundred and fifty rand, if you if you divide it, it doesn’t give you a loaf of bread. A loaf of bread is anything between R12 and R14 in South Africa today. That R350, is actually about R11 and 70 cents or so during the day. South Africa is the 6th richest country in the whole world, according to the IMF. That wealth is being occupied by 1 percent of the population,” says Vavi.
Zwelinzima Vavi on the Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant for the unemployed
SONA 2022 | Looking at Ramaphosa’s extension of the R350 Social Relief Distress Grant: Hlongwane
