Author: Daniel Steyn

Something must be done to solve South Africa’s social ills but the country cannot afford nor sustain a Basic Income Grant (BIG). This was the position of Business Unity South Africa’s CEO, Cas Coovadia, during GroundUp and Black Sash’s BIG Debate in Cape Town on Thursday. The proposed Basic Income Grant (BIG) would be a cash transfer from the government to citizens aged 18 to 59. The South African government has expressed support for this, and has indicated that the existing R370 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant that was introduced during Covid, could be the start of a more…

Bonginkosi Nxumalo, an unemployed teacher from Daveyton in Benoni, has been getting the R350 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant each month since it was introduced during the covid lockdown in 2020. But in January 2023, he received an SMS from the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) alerting him that his cellphone number had been changed. After getting this message, he did not receive monthly grant payments again. He has tried several times to report the fraud to SASSA via email. Each time he is told that his case has been escalated. It is now a year later and…