Johannesburg - Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana tabled the 2023 Budget and, although the country is facing a difficult time economically, there was good news for beneficiaries.
Social grants will be increased beginning April 1.
The increase was announced by Godongwana yesterday when he delivered his national Budget at the Cape Town City Hall.
The Department of Social Development was given the largest slice of the pie in last year in order to provide social relief to millions of South Africans from low-income households who were impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
This year, the department will receive R66 billion in medium-term funding, with R36 billion going towards extending the Covid-19 social relief of distress grant until March 1 next year.
Currently, social grant recipients are paid the following amount each month: On October 1, the child support grant will increase from R480 to R510. The foster child grant has been increased from R1 070 to R1 130. The older persons grant will be increased by R90 on April 1 and by R10 in October, for a total of R2 090.
After the Budget speech was released, The Star visited households with families dependent solely on social grants and pension grants to find out if this year’s Budget would help alleviate poverty in their homes.
Nomakhosi Khumalo, 79, a resident who lives in an RDP house, has been supporting her family with pension grant money since her husband passed away in 2016. She lives with her two daughters and two sons who are not working, as well as four grandchildren, all of whom rely on social grants.
She said that, ever since her husband died, life had not been the same. She struggled to cover all her basic needs as well as medical expenses, as she was now old.
“The money that I receive monthly, I use it to buy groceries and leave some transport money for my monthly check-ups at the hospital. But I can say that it is not easy, because I am old now and none of my children are working.”
“We are grateful that the government is taking care of us, but the money is not enough, because the cost of living is too high now, unlike in our old days when you could have R100 and buy almost everything.”
She said that she was overwhelmed by stress because she could not even enjoy her money or buy the things she wanted, since all the money went straight to groceries.
“I have never worked a day in my life; you know, during our time, the only thing you could do was farm, so to break down the list of things we buy monthly in my household, there are 5kg chicken feet, chicken breasts, soup, cooking oil, as well as toiletries.
“We no longer buy chicken because it’s expensive. My prediction for our country is that things will get harder and we will never be economically stable like we used to (be) before,” said Khumalo.
Nobuhle Thema, 32, a resident and a parent of three, is a single mother who relies on social grants and the Covid-19 social relief of distress grant. She explained how difficult it was to make a living when you are unemployed.
She said that being a single parent was difficult, and at times unbearable.
“I was working before the Covid-19 lockdown, and I used to manage my household back then. But I was retrenched from work two years ago, and it has been tough to make it through every day. But to make a living I sell vegetables on the streets.”
She added that after listening to the Budget speech today she was not really happy about the increase, because everything was now expensive and the increase would not change anything or make a difference.
“Depending on social grants is not easy, and I see many people are happy about the increase. But the cost of living is too high, and I really don’t think the money alleviates poverty,” said Thema.
The Star