<\/p>\n
Cape Town – Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu has ordered Sassa to conduct an analysis of the payment of the current iteration of the R350 social relief of distress (SRD) grants.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not really happy with the numbers that have been applied and approved. I am looking at the last iteration with the numbers that were right up to 11 million,\u201d Zulu said.<\/p>\n
She made the statement when she was responding to oral questions in the National Assembly on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Good Party MP Brett Herron said Zulu had in October stated that changes envisaged to the regulations governing the payment of the grant would allow more people to qualify.<\/p>\n
He asked about the number of beneficiaries currently receiving the R350 grant under the new threshold, and the details of any changes in the number of applications since the amended thresholds.<\/p>\n
In her response, Zulu said: \u201cI have asked Sassa to do an analysis of the decrease month-to-month, year-on-year and also be able to present what the variables are because when all is said and done we should not be far from what we were paying originally.\u201d<\/p>\n
Herron said the declining numbers of people receiving the grant was worrying yet poverty was not declining.<\/p>\n
He said they welcomed Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana\u2019s announcement of the temporary extension of the grant by another year to March 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes the minister have plans to implement the social security plan which will include a basic income grant (BIG) or guarantee which will use the SRD grant as a foundation?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
Zulu said Sassa and her department were happy with the extension of the grant. However, Zulu said the issue was how much the BIG would be and where the money to fund should come from.<\/p>\n
DA MP Gizella Opperman said food prices were rising and the cost of living was increasing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat measures has the Department of Social Development put in place for millions qualifying who are excluded from the safety net,\u201d Opperman asked.<\/p>\n
In her response, Zulu said the evaluation to be done by Sassa was aimed at ensuring no one was left out and that the system used when applications were made did not kick out the applicants.<\/p>\n
She blamed the means test and the regulations that were used after April to determine the qualification for the R350 grant.<\/p>\n
Cape Times<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cape Town – Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu has ordered Sassa to conduct an analysis of the payment of the current iteration of the R350 social relief of distress (SRD) grants. \u201cI am not really happy with the numbers that have been applied and approved. I am looking at the last iteration with the numbers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[11130,523,409,4693,8355,517,11140],"class_list":{"0":"post-152491","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-politics","7":"tag-analysis","8":"tag-grant","9":"tag-minister","10":"tag-orders","11":"tag-payments","12":"tag-r350","13":"tag-srd"},"yoast_head":"\n