Herman Mashaba book

ActionSA President, Herman Mashaba. Image: ActionSA/ Facebook

‘Failure’: Herman Mashaba slams Ramaphosa over social grants

Herman Mashaba has slammed President Cyril Ramaphosa for celebrating that more South Africans are recipients of social grants.

Herman Mashaba book

ActionSA President, Herman Mashaba. Image: ActionSA/ Facebook

ActionSA leader, Herman Mashaba, has slammed President Cyril Ramaphosa for celebrating that over eleven million South Africans are recipients of social grants. 

Ramaphosa had taken to Twitter to celebrate the government’s “intervention”. 

HERMAN MASHABA SLAMS RAMAPHOSA

“Today, more than 11 million South Africans are social grant recipients and it has been demonstrated that without these interventions poverty and inequality in South Africa would be much higher,” Ramaphosa tweeted. 

Responding to the tweet, the ActionSA leader said the President of the Republic of South Africa is celebrating government failure. 

“Eleven million South Africans on social grants is a failure of unimaginable proportion.” 

MORE SET TO QUALIFY FOR R350 SRD GRANT 

Meanwhile, the Department of Social Development Minister, Lindiwe Zulu, recently gazetted new regulations which govern the R350 SRD grant. 

The income threshold has been increased from R350 to R624. When the SRD grant was transferred to another framework earlier this year, it meant that anyone who had more than that in their bank accounts was automatically excluded from receiving the money.

ALSO READ: More people will now qualify for the R350 SRD grant – Here’s why

The South African Social Security (SASSA) said the low number of approved applications for the R350 compared to previous iterations “was a cause for concern” for itself and the Social Development department, in a statement that was released on Thursday, 25 August.

“There has also been public outcry regarding some of the regulations, which were deemed to be unlawful and to unfairly exclude some of the potential applicants.

“To this end the Department of Social Development, last week, published amended regulations which include increasing the income threshold for means test from R350 to R624,” said the Agency.

grants
Hundreds of R350 SRD grant applicants waiting outside the Post Office in Kariega. Image: Thamsanqa Mbovane

From August 2022, applicants who have an income of less than R624 per month will now qualify.

SASSA said it is hopeful that more qualifying applicants will have access to the grant and as of the start of August, SASSA has reportedly received over 12 million applications.

ALSO READ: Five million R350 SRD grant applications declined by SASSA