{"id":852815,"date":"2026-03-04T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=852815"},"modified":"2026-03-04T08:47:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T06:47:24","slug":"new-social-grant-for-south-africa-on-the-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/852815\/new-social-grant-for-south-africa-on-the-way\/","title":{"rendered":"New social grant for South Africa on the way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Department of Social Development (DSD) says consultations with National Treasury will begin in March 2026 to find a way to support the new Basic Income Support (BIS) grant, promised by the government for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responding to a parliamentary question from the ANC’s Tshilidzi Munyai, DSD Minister Sisisi Tolashe said the department is currently refining macroeconomic impact and implementation models for the grant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The grant\u2014first characterised as a ‘basic income grant’ (BIG)\u2014has been transformed over the years as the government’s desire to provide a universal income for all clashed with South Africa’s economic reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024, Tolashe said her department was instructed by cabinet to more clearly define the grant in terms of strengthening links to “sustainable livelihoods and economic opportunities”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This aligns with promises and announcements from President Cyril Ramaphosa over the years that the country would be moving towards a ‘work-seeker’s grant’ as a form of basic income support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using the COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant as a basis, the DSD has since engaged in extensive consultations, commissioned research and is working with stakeholders to make the grant possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The SRD grant has functioned as a transitional instrument, allowing the government to test administrative capacity and assess fiscal implications before committing to a permanent Basic Income Support,” the minister said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new grant is intended to align with broader employment and social protection strategies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DSD said this will likely be in line with linking beneficiaries aged 18 to 59 with employment, training, and enterprise opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is essential to transform grants from instruments of survival into tools of empowerment, Tolashe said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Evidence suggests that when beneficiaries are linked to economic opportunities, they are better able to leverage social assistance to improve their livelihoods,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A question of cost<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
DSD Minister, Sisisi Tolashe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One of the key blockages for the new grant is financing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tolashe said that a policy-making process can never be completed without a clear, sustainable financing framework. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To this end, she said that the re-costing of the policy has been completed and incorporated into the draft policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Funding sustainability remains a concern with fiscal space constrained by slow economic growth and increasing demands on government revenue.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 2026 budget, Finance Minister Enoch Godonwana noted that social grants constitute the largest share of spending on social development. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Excluding the SRD grant, spending increases from R246.6 billion in 2025\/26 to R276.5 billion in 2028\/29, the Treasury said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 8.2 million people currently benefit from the SRD grant, with 26.5 million grant recipients overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of the process of getting the BIS off the ground, the DSD said the COVID SRD grant had to keep going. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As such, the grant was allocated an additional R36.4 billion to extend payments until 31 March 2027 at the current rate of R370 per beneficiary per month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notably, the provision for the SRD grant over the medium term dissipates to 2028\/29, where only R1.7 billion and R1.2 billion are pencilled in over the outer years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This aligns with Ramaphosa’s statements during the State of the Nation Address (SONA) that a new grant, using the SRD as a basis but completely redesigned, will be introduced in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consultation with the National Treasury for funding the new BIS will resume in March 2026, the DSD said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the assistance of the Presidency, the department has reviewed the draft policy on the BIS, and the intention is to finalise consultation in March 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Department of Social Development has confirmed that a new BIS grant is being processed, with consultations to be finalised in March 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":794242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[24917,4103,18480],"class_list":["post-852815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-bis-grant","tag-social-grant","tag-srd-grant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852815"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":852824,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852815\/revisions\/852824"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/794242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}