black sash social grants 2024-2025

black sash social grants 2024-2025

This page has information on black sash social grants 2024-2025.

The Black Sash asks that the government develop a permanent Basic Income Support program for people with little to no incomes between the ages of 18 and 59! The Covid-19 pandemic has made inequality, poverty, and unemployment worse. A more comprehensive social security program is required to complement job creation initiatives because this situation is not going away soon.

Section 27 of the Constitution requires the government to gradually realize the right to social assistance for people who are unable to support themselves. In addition, the government ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). This human rights Covenant recommended that the government ensure that “those between the ages of 18 and 59 with little or no income have access to social assistance” and that a universal basic income grant is considered for everyone!

The government temporarily implemented social assistance programs to lessen the pandemic’s detrimental effects. The R350 Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) award for the unemployed, with a monthly means test threshold of zero-rated income, was a notable initiative. The Covid-19 SRD was reintroduced in August 2021, but with the increased eligibility conditions, until March 2022, after many extensions and its cancellation in April 2021. The monthly means test level was raised to R595, and caregivers who are unemployed but receive the Child Support Grant on behalf of children are now able to apply.

The Covid-19 SRD grant recognizes the lack of employment options for the unemployed in South Africa. The grant represents the first step toward the long-term inclusion of the unemployed in the framework of social assistance while pursuing a Basic Income Grant.

The Black Sash demands that the government:

• Implement permanent income support for people aged 18 to 59 with little to no income, valued at the upper-bound poverty line, currently R1 335 per month; and Immediately increase the reinstated Covid-19 SRD grant to at least the Food Poverty Line, currently R624 until social assistance for the unemployed is made permanent. Caregivers receiving the Child Support Grant who are unemployed must also be eligible;
• Make the R250 monthly increments from Covid-19 permanent for all grants.
  ensures that migrant workers with special permits, permanent residents, asylum seekers, and refugees are also eligible for and receive their grant;
• Strive for a basic income that is provided to everyone!

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