More than 3 million South Africans 'exluded' from R350 grant - govt
A report looking into the implementation and utilisation of the Covid-19 distress grant, has found that over 3 million people who qualified for the grant, were excluded.
The Department of Social Development Department launched a report into the success of the grant of Thursday.
“By cross simulation which we also conducted when we look at how many South Africans actually applied for the grant, it indictated that up to 9.4 million South Africans qualified for the grant. This means that the systems that Sassa put in place missed a minimum of 3.5 million people who qualified, and that is quite a significant number,” says the department’s Dr Wiseman Magasela.
Some of the reasons cited by South Africans for a failure to apply included a lost ID document and a lack of a smartphone.
ALSO READ: Covid-19 weekly average decreases across SA
Since the government rolled out the R350 distress grant in 2020, more than 6 million South Africans have benefited.
Magasela says over 93% of recipients used the grant to buy food for their families.
“The first most important conclusion is that food is by far the one single item that the special covid-19 SRD grant was used for. Food was the one most important item that was bought. 93% of those who received the grant used it to buy food.”
