International Day for the Eradication of Poverty: SA is in desperate need of a Basic Income Grant

17 October 2024 

As the world observes the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the GOOD Party remains steadfast in our call for a Basic Income Grant.

In the United Nations 2024 message, UN Secretary-General António Guterres says ‘… poverty is not inevitable. It is the direct result of the choices that societies and governments make — or fail to make.

…Ending global poverty requires governments shaping institutions and systems that put people first. It demands that we prioritize investments in decent work, learning opportunities and social protection that offer ladders out of poverty.’

The Government of South Africa is failing its people.

We spend billions of rand treating the symptoms of poverty — from broken families to cable theft, fixing infrastructure damaged during service delivery protests, substance abuse and all kinds of petty crime — instead of spending money on mitigating poverty.

The state’s current response to addressing poverty is the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant. But the grant hasn’t kept up with inflation since being introduced three years ago, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

It pays R370 per month to about 8.5-million recipients. The government-set food poverty line, the monthly amount individuals need to afford the minimum daily energy intake, is R742. By government’s own definition, the SRD grant is insufficient to enable those who receive it to sustain themselves.

Two years ago, the GOOD party contracted the services of a professional economist to crunch the numbers of the country’s economy, tell us what level of BIG SA could afford, and where the money would come from.

This research has underpinned our campaign for a BIG of at least R999 a month, for all adults without jobs. For context, although the food poverty line is R742, the upper-bound poverty line, which includes food and other minimal household expenses, is officially set at R1,588.

We have calculated that R999 is affordable, largely through revising our approach to budgeting to exclude nonpriority and redundant expenditures and programmes, reducing the number of government departments and cutting spending on the provincial tier of government. In this way, a BIG will not add to the debt burden.

The GOOD Party remains committed to fighting for the implementation of a Basic Income Grant that is inclusionary. Recipients must not be subjected to jumping through digital hoops or dysfunctional means tests.

It is the only way we can offer ‘social protection that offer ladders out of poverty’

Issued by Brett Herron, GOOD Secretary General, 17 October 2024