Basic Income Grant for SA ‘will be worth over three times more’ than R350 grant

Calls for a Basic Income Grant of R1268 have intensified. Three civil society organisations including the Poverty and Inequality Institute have demanded South Africa’s government to provide a universal Basic Income Grant in order to assist over 13 million people living under the poverty line.

The country had been providing a R350 Social Relief of Distress grant at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic The SRD payments bridged a gap for citizens who remain ineligible for other SASSA grants. However, after many extensions from the initial deadline, the grant was discontinued. Many argued that the discontinuation left millions of vulnerable people who have come to depend on the grant to provide for their needs in the lurch.

CALLS FOR R1268 BASIC INCOME GRANT INTENSIFY

In an interview with the SABC, Isobel Frye from the Poverty and Inequality Institute says the amount of R1 268 is indexed to the upper-bound poverty line.

“With one swoop, we could eliminate poverty by having it paid. If we give too little, it doesn’t have a structural impact. So in a way people talk about that old-fashioned notion that the poor will be dependent on grants – to an extent that is correct – if the amount is just enough to survive and we won’t have that multiplier effect. So the amount itself cannot be too little, or else what you are doing is just making sure that people are surviving. We need that springboard effect,” she said.

Speaking at a Mandela Day memorial lecture on Sunday, 18 July, President Cyril Ramaphosa said that a Basic Income Grant would show people that the government cared.

“This will validate our people and show them that we are giving serious consideration to their lives. We are giving active consideration to the grinding poverty that we continue to see in our country. We need to address the structural inequalities in our economy,” Ramaphosa said.

Economist, Thabi Leoka also told the SABC that implementing a R1268 or any other universal Basic Income Grant in a country like South Africa would be very difficult without making tough trade offs.

“South Africa is a fiscally constrained country, made even more so by the pandemic. Firstly we’ll have to consider increasing taxes which will put a lot of pressure on many households. We can also look at programmes that can be cut such as the housing and defence force programmes, which is not ideal,” she said.

Leoka also added that the country needs to look at the socio-economic problems and how it can solve the issues of unemployment, poverty, inequality and the education system that is not leading to job absorption.

Earlier in July, Social Development Minister, Lindiwe Zulu confirmed that SASSA has R700 million that is yet to be paid to beneficiaries.

READ: SASSA latest: Remaining SRD budget to fund food parcels after riots