Cape Town, South Africa, 05 May 2025 – Black Sash notes the recent public statement by ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula made during a visit to Freedom Park in Soweto, yesterday, regarding the conversion of the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant into a Basic Income Grant (BIG). We welcome the reaffirmation of the GNU’s commitment to ensuring long-term income support for those living in poverty and unemployed.
Since its inception in 2020, the SRD grant has served as a lifeline for millions, including South Africans, refugees and asylum seekers. For nearly 13 million people, this modest income support has helped meet basic needs in the absence of work opportunities or access to other forms of social protection. The recognition by the ANC of the need to institutionalise and expand this support is a critical step in the right direction.
However, Black Sash cautions that the transition to a Basic Income Grant must be grounded in constitutional principles of equality, dignity and access to social protection for all. A meaningful BIG must not simply be a repackaged or a renamed SRD grant — it must be universal, accessible and adequate to meet people’s basic needs. The current SRD grant amount, even with the recent increase to R370, falls far below the food poverty line and is insufficient to restore dignity or break the cycle of poverty.
We call on government to:
- Urgently publish a clear, inclusive roadmap with clear timelines for the introduction of a permanent Basic Income Grant;
- Address the systemic and administrative challenges with the SRD Grant to remedy unfair disqualifications due to flawed verification systems to ensure access to the grant and ensure transparent and inclusive transformation to universal basic income;
- Raise the grant value to at least be in line with the upper-bound poverty line with increases to have a decent standard of living with dignity;
- Secure sustainable and progressive financing for BIG that does not compromise other social spending commitments.
We also note with concern the ongoing issues and delays in SRD payments and urge SASSA and Treasury to improve administrative efficiency and transparency, especially around verification processes, so that recipients do not suffer unnecessary hardship.
Black Sash stands ready to engage with policymakers and civil society to ensure that the Basic Income Grant becomes a transformative tool for building a more just, equitable society — one where everyone has the means to live in dignity.
For media enquiries, contact Black Sash Communications & Media Manager, Oliver Meth on 068 352 9045 or email oliver@blacksash.org.za
