The research was commissioned by the department in partnership with the International Labour Organisation. Picture Leon Lestrade/African News Agency/ANA.
Cape Town - Despite some of the R350 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant beneficiaries still waiting for their money since April and other challenges that marred the disbursement, the country is shifting closer to the realisation of the Basic Income Grant (BIG).
The Department of Social Development launched a second report for basic income support on Tuesday which found the SRD grant can be adopted permanently without sacrificing economic growth.
The research was commissioned by the department in partnership with the International Labour Organisation and used different models to consider the economic, fiscal and social impacts of making the SRD grant permanent.
Social Development acting director General Linton Mchunu said the discussion had shifted over the past few months.
“Before, the discussion was whether we should bring a Basic Income Grant and that was in the first report launched last year, but this discourse is now shifting to how best can we implement the grant.
“The report that we’re launching starts to look at the various options available in terms of bringing the grant to fruition. The report sheds some light on what options are available for us to start looking at as a country,” he said.
Mchunu, who alluded to the ongoing challenges in distributing the grant, appealed to those who had not received their money to lodge appeals.
“Our view is that we should extend it much longer, at least to a point where we get to a policy level, and this is what we’re working on. What comes out of this report will go into a policy document which will be fed through the various government structures.
“Thereafter, we will look at amending the legislation and then amend the regulations that will enable Basic Income Support,” he said.
Mchunu said following this report the department would in the next three months undertake certain processes, including taking the policy paper to the Cabinet, public inputs, and amendment of the regulations before implementation.
Pay The Grants’ Alfred Moyo, who is advocating for the extension of the SRD grant to BIG, said the R350, which equates to R11 a day, had no value in the rising cost of living. Speaking on the impact of the grant, Moyo said this year the grant had less impact but instead had created more gaps.
Kelle Howson from the Institute for Economic Justice said a lot of what the report highlighted was consistent and aligned with what the organisation had been arguing and proposing over a couple of years.
mthuthuzeli.ntseku@inl.co.za