• The SASSA SRD grant is set to be upped by R20 as of April 2024, to R370.
• This follows a few other increases SASSA grants are seeing this year.
• Government recently allocated over R30 billion to continue disbursing SRD grants at least until March 2025.

Following the government budget speech near the end of February, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced that several SASSA social grants would see increases, excluding the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant introduced during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now in March, beneficiaries of the SRD grant are also set to see increases in the amount they will receive, according to the Finance Minister.

According to announcement delivered by Godongwana in the National Assembly on Wednesday, the SASSA SRD grant will now be increased from R350 to R370 as of April 2024. The increase follows an assertion from President Cyril Ramaphosa during this year’s State of the Nation Address that the SRD grants would be improved.

“I am pleased to say that we have found consensus that in between, subject to the finalisation of the comprehensive social security [programme], we’ll increase the R350 to R370 by the 1st of April this year. That is part of the progressive realisation of the basic rights of our people,” Godongwana explained.

In his budget speech, the minister indicated that the SRD grants will continue being disbursed until March of 2025, and perhaps beyond that. Government allocated R33.6 billion this year in order to continue distributing the distress relief grants.

Additionally, a few other social grants have increased this year, including the old age, war veterans, disability and care dependency grants which will go up by R90 as of April, and then see a further R10 increase in October.

The foster care grant is being increased by R50 and the child support grant by R20.

These grants are increasing in a year where the ruling ANC party faces renewed disapproval from South Africans heading into the biggest elections the country has seen since 1994.

“We are sensitive to the increase in the cost of living for the nearly 19 million South Africans who rely on these grants to make ends meet. In this regard, we have done as much as the fiscal envelope allows,” said the Finance Minister in February on the topic of grant increases.

On Wednesday, Godongwana hinted at future upgrades to the country’s social security system with support from the Minister of Social Development. These are set to “…define a better platform and a future for the social security net in South Africa.”

Click here to learn how to check your SASSA status and how to get it approved online.

[Source – SA News]