GOOD statement by Brett Herron,
GOOD: Secretary-General & Member of Parliament
24 June 2022
Whether or not South Africa can afford a Basic Income Grant comes down to priorities.
If we accept as the norm the throwing away of money – wastefully, irregularly and inappropriately lavishly – funding a Basic Income Grant will be virtually impossible.
But there is nothing normal about the state of poverty and unemployment in South Africa today. And there are no quick fixes. Turning the economy around to the extent that it starts generating meaningful numbers of jobs will take a number of years.
The State doesn’t have access to piles of money, and is already in debt up to its neck. If it doesn’t spend that which it has better it is effectively sentencing poor people to lives of utter destitution, indignity and misery.
It is therefore incumbent on the State to prioritise better.
In its latest general household survey released on Thursday, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) reported that grants make up the primary source of income for 24.4% of households in the country.
Compounding the crisis are State inefficiencies. Delays and uncertainties around the temporary Social Relief Distress Grant (SRD) have placed extreme pressures on millions of people who have depended on it for their survival since the pandemic hit.
Civil society organisations are now taking the government to court over the new unfair and exclusionary SRD regulations, and payment delays.
In order to qualify for the grant, citizens must first undergo a means test to prove they don’t earn more than R350 a month from any other sources. Then they must navigate a complicated online application process.
The Minister of Social Development and SASSA officials should try walking in the shoes of those who depend on the R350 SRD grant.
The GOOD party stands in solidarity with the civil society organisations who have taken up the plight of the most vulnerable South Africans. We call once again for the urgent implementation of the Basic Income Grant (BIG) – as we are facing a humanitarian crisis.
More than 18,3 million of our compatriots live below the poverty line, but with the new changes in the regulations just 10,5 million people qualified to receive the SDR grant.
Throwing crumbs around is insufficient to nourish the people and afford them a modicum of dignity.
We can do better, but we must get our priorities right, first.
Media enquiries:
Brett Herron, GOOD: Secretary-General & Member of Parliament
Cell: 0825183264
Email: bretth@forgood.org.za
Janke Tolmay, GOOD: Media Manager
Cell: 0733671223
Email: janke@forgood.org.za