South Africa’s unemployment rate stands at a staggering 33.5%, one of the highest in the world. Coupled with an alarming poverty rate – where more than half of the population lives on less than R1,558 (about US$88) a month – the socioeconomic landscape is dire.
The country’s social assistance system has been a critical tool in the fight against poverty and unemployment. In fact, South Africa has one of the largest cash transfers programmes in Africa. More than 19 million grants are paid out every month. These are the Care Dependency Grant, Child Support Grant, Disability Grant, Foster Child Grant, Grant in Aid, Old Age Grant and War Veteran Grant.
During the COVID pandemic a new grant was added to the mix – the Social Relief of Distress grant. (It’s known as the R350 grant; equal to about US$20.) This was added because the pandemic worsened the country’s socioeconomic ills.
