{"id":871866,"date":"2026-08-25T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=871866"},"modified":"2026-08-25T10:52:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T08:52:20","slug":"new-social-grant-for-millions-of-people-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/871866\/new-social-grant-for-millions-of-people-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"New social grant for millions of people in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The government is actively working to establish a permanent Basic Income Support (BIS) grant, which will replace the Social Relief of Distress grant that goes to over 8.2 million people in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new poll from Ipsos shows that 40% of South Africans depend on government grants to survive, with 37% of grant recipients depending on the R370 SRD grant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is especially true among South Africa’s youth, where 73% of grant recipients depend on the SRD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new BIS grant is being developed to address this systemic dependency and replace the SRD with a jobseeker’s grant, largely targeting the same group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the details of the grant are still being processed, it is clear that it will become something that millions of South Africans will come to depend on going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there are complications ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Supreme Court of Appeal is soon set to hear an appeal regarding a High Court ruling that found the SRD grant system unconstitutional for excluding millions of eligible individuals.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The January 2025 ruling highlighted issues such as the online-only application process, flawed bank verification, and a problematic appeals system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government chose to appeal rather than address these issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government is accused of using administrative barriers and budget caps to avoid its constitutional duty to provide social assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The case argues the SRD grant of R370 is inadequate and has not kept up with inflation, remaining below the R855 food poverty line while millions of approved beneficiaries face payment delays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The outcome of this case could set a precedent for restricting access to social assistance, contrary to the Constitution’s mandate for the government to improve access rather than reduce it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department of Social Development said it aims to finalise the draft BIS policy by March 2027, paving the way for the legislative process to amend the Social Assistance Act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike the SRD grant, the BIS policy is being developed with explicit connections to employment-seeking activities and sustainable livelihood opportunities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal is to help working-age recipients transition to other economic opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rollout timeline includes finalising engagements with the National Treasury, submitting the draft to the Cabinet for gazetting and public comment, and presenting a final policy to the Cabinet by March 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the final benefit values and exact costs for the new BIS grant are still under discussion with the National Treasury, the budget outlines a transitional scale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 2026 budget, the government allocated R36.4 billion to extend current SRD grant payments of R370 per month until March 31, 2027. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This temporary extension represents a significant financial commitment for an already constrained National Budget. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the medium-term budget, the allocation for the SRD grant decreases significantly, with R1.7 billion and R1.2 billion projected for the subsequent years leading up to 2028\/29. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four out of ten South Africans depend on social grants<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Ipsos data shows that South Africa continues to maintain a deep and growing reliance on social assistance, with 4 out of 10 South Africans depending on grants to survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Child Support Grant (CSG) remains the cornerstone of the social assistance system, which reached 40% of all grant recipients receiving it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the SRD grant has emerged as the second most common form of social assistance, having served as temporary relief during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together, the two grants keep millions of households afloat, reaching more than three-quarters (77%) of all grant recipients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This dependency is higher among South Africa’s youth: 34% of South Africans aged 18 to 24 receive a social grant, 73% of whom rely on the SRD grant as their main or only source of income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This dependence underscores a significant fiscal tension between an expanding grant system and a limited tax base. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, 40% of the population receives grants, while only about one in four South Africans surveyed earns more than R9,000 per month, which is the income tax threshold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

52% of South African households depend on a single income earner, or have no earner at all. This issue is also notably gendered, with 49% of women receiving grants, compared to 31% of men. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Geographically, grant dependency varies significantly; about one-third of the population in Gauteng (33%) and the Western Cape (32%) relies on grants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, nearly six in ten people in the North West province are grant recipients. Rural areas experience higher levels of dependency (50%) compared to metropolitan areas (34%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new poll shows that 40% of South Africans depend on social grants, with a new grant coming to replace one of the most collected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":871890,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"failed","_sma_x_autopost_error":"Instagram publishing failed: Instagram returned HTTP 400: Media ID is not available","_sma_x_post_id":"2092190513415836099","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2186129882207411","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[16832,2237,1366],"class_list":["post-871866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-department-of-social-development","tag-ipsos","tag-social-grants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871866","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\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871866"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":871940,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871866\/revisions\/871940"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}