CAPE TOWN, MARCH 19-South Africa’s most vulnerable citizens have been left behind again.
While the National Treasury announced increases to nearly every social grant in the 2026/27 budget, the Social Relief of Distress grant — the last financial lifeline for millions of unemployed adults — will remain frozen at R370 per month.
The amount will not change until at least March 2027, Treasury confirmed.
The contrast is stark. An elderly South African will receive R2,400 per month from April. A person with a disability, R2,400.
A foster child’s caregiver, R1,290. But an unemployed adult with no other income — often the sole support of an entire household — will receive R370. That is R12.33 per day.
Less than a loaf of bread in most parts of the country.
The SRD grant was introduced as an emergency measure during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, originally at R350 per month. It was extended repeatedly and modestly increased to R370 in May 2023 — but has not moved since.
Each year, advocacy groups including the Black Sash, SECTION27, and the Basic Income Coalition have called for it to be raised to at least the food poverty line and ultimately converted into a permanent Basic Income Support grant.
Each year, Treasury has declined.
The 2026/27 budget allocates R292.8 billion for social grants overall — a significant sum — but the SRD’s share remains minimal relative to the scale of need it is meant to address. Unemployment in South Africa currently sits above 32% by the official definition, and above 40% by the expanded definition which includes discouraged workers.
SRD Grant Timeline
Critics argue the SRD’s stagnation is a policy choice, not a fiscal necessity. “The money exists,” said one economist who advises the Basic Income Coalition. “The question is who the budget prioritises.”
Treasury, for its part, has pointed to fiscal consolidation pressures and concerns about long-term affordability of a permanent grant as reasons for restraint.
For now, the 8.5 million South Africans who depend on the SRD will have to stretch R370 further — against rising food prices, transport costs, and utility bills — while watching other grant categories get their annual uplift.
Advocacy groups have vowed to continue legal and public pressure campaigns ahead of the 2027 budget.
Also Read
Millions of South Africans to receive bigger SASSA grants from April
How Social Grants Contribute to Poverty Reduction in South Africa
