In todays latest SASSA News – The government had to support persons who lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Giving this kind of financial support has proved rocky.
Statistics South Africa observed that the AIDS outbreak cost South Africa demographically.
The demographic dividend suffered from the loss of economically active people and infant and child mortality, which lowered life expectancy for several years.
After two years of increased death, disease, and migratory patterns, the country has yet to assess the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the pandemic was causing many young individuals to lose their jobs.
Thus, South Africa introduced the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant for unemployed 18-59-year-olds.
The SRD prize has been extended and adjusted to guarantee that only the most deserving applicants apply since its establishment.
The temporary measure will stop grant financing in March 2024.
Technical issues, backlogs due to changed qualifying conditions, and loadshedding that prevents ATM withdrawals have plagued the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) in distributing this and other social giveaways.
After a long wait at the paypoint, many SNAP recipients had to return home empty-handed.
After hearing from activists, the Department of Social Development considered making the SRD grant permanent to help more needy people.
In 2021, the department created an Expert Panel to assess the economic and social impacts of a basic income guarantee.
This panel considered many funding ideas, including raising VAT or personal income tax for the top three deciles to fund SRD grants.
The National Treasury expects the SRD grant to rise 8.8% yearly and cost the government about R64.9 billion by 2030/31.
These researchers determined that the SRD structure had low fiscal and economic concerns, suggesting that the grant should be made permanent.
