The R350 social relief of distress (SRD) grant could come to an end in March next year as the government has no plans to extend it.
This emerged from the 2024 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana on Wednesday.
Instead, the government is considering ways to reform social grants and consolidate public employment initiatives to cater for the unemployed.
The MTBPS made it clear that there will be no SRD grants in the coming few financial years.
“Over the next three years, 30.6% of the population will receive some form of grant, excluding the Covid-19 social relief of distress grant. Government will spend R3.4 billion on job creation initiatives in 2024-25,” reads the document.
The R350 grant was initially introduced for six months to support the unemployed during the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
It has been extended several times and was only increased by R20 in this year’s budget.
The National Treasury said any additional spending on grants should be funded through permanent revenue sources.
“A wide range of fiscal financial support is provided to unemployed persons. However, these interventions are split across agencies and do not function as a cohesive, integrated system.
“Moreover, there is little to no linkage between the social security system and the policy goal of increasing employment.”
The National Treasury also said the government was considering ways to reform the grant system and consolidate public employment initiatives.
“This includes a review of the impact of the skills development funding system, where the levy collected averaged R20.09 billion over the last three years. Proposals will be presented in the 2025 budget.”