Extension of Covid-19 grant nothing but an election ploy

1 March 2023  

The civil rights organisation AfriForum considers the plan to further extend the period of payment of the controversial R350 Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress grant well into 2024 as nothing more than an election ploy. AfriForum firmly holds that this grant should especially not be extended since it is an expenditure that government simply cannot afford. The organisation today submitted written comments to the Department of Social Development to oppose this plan.

In his recent Budget speech, Enoch Godongwana, the Minister of Finance, acknowledged the pressing issue of the government’s large and growing budget deficit. This deficit is primarily due to an excess of state expenditures, for which there are no funds available, due to factors such as rampant corruption, wasteful expenditure and mismanagement of funds. The R350 Covid-19 Social Relief grant constitutes one of these excessive expenditures which the government simply cannot afford to keep paying for an extended period far longer than what it was intended for.

The increase in poverty and unemployment witnessed in recent years was less to do with the Covid-19 pandemic, and more do to with the government’s destructive, stifling and often erratic lockdown policies and the unaddressed corruption and looting associated with these policies. The roots of the problem at hand are much deeper than just a virus and the nature of the problem means that the South African government will not be able to solve it through money handouts – especially handouts which the government cannot afford.

“With the national elections occurring in 2024, one cannot help but interpret the ANC government’s hard pressing to extend the period of payment for this grant into 2024 as an election ploy to retain votes. This is not a mere piece of speculation, but rather an educated observation rooted in experience and the ANC government’s own extensive track record in this regard,” says Ernst van Zyl, Campaign Officer for Strategy and Content at AfriForum.

“The only way the ANC can possibly cling on to power is through the massive government patronage system that they have built up over the decades. It is a cruel system which has entrapped over 50% of South Africa’s population in state-dependency. The Covid-19 Social Relief grant is just another cynical cog in this electioneering machine,” Van Zyl concludes.

Issued by Ernst van Zyl, Campaign Officer: Strategy and Content, AfriForum, 1 March 2023