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By Beryl Botha, Zintle Mahlati 
3h ago
Johannesburg – The National Treasury says it will only announce its budget process allocations when Finance Minister Tito Mboweni delivers his Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS).
This comes amid growing calls for other social grants to be extended to cushion the economic impact of Covid-19.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recent announcement of an extension of the Distressed Social Assistance (SRD) grant has been welcome, but has also raised concerns about why other caregiver grants weren’t extended beyond the end of this month.
Ramaphosa said the introduction of the R350 emergency grant was aimed at unemployed people at the beginning of the national shutdown. This was also accompanied by an increase in other grants, including grants for the elderly / disability and grants for children.
However, additional top-ups to these grants will stop later this month.
Child support recipients received an additional R500 between June and this month and other grant recipients topped up with R250.
This has also raised the alarm of civil society organizations that last week, shortly before Ramaphosa’s speech to Parliament, called for an extension of subsidies linked to Covid-19.
Concerns persist about the adverse impact that women will experience if donor grants are not awarded, as women are often caregivers and are sometimes out of work.
The Popular Coalition Covid-19, a group of civil society organizations that includes Black Sash and the Institute of Economic Justice, criticized Ramaphosa’s lack of concrete focus on social grants as part of his speech.
The group said the failure to extend caregiver grants was a slap in the face and punishment for women. The organization believes that the Covid-19 grants helped cushion the economic impact of Covid-19, as many people were left without work.
“Caregivers are excluded from receiving the SRD grant, so women are not only expected to take care of children, but are also punished for it. This is a testimony that despite the government’s rhetoric in support of women, current politics is abandoning the most precarious women and children.
“If the government is going to align its rhetoric with actions that would seriously help support women, then the caregiver grant must be extended and increased immediately.”
When asked to explain the reasoning behind the government’s decision not to extend all the recharges related to Covid-19, the Department of Social Development directed the inquiries to the National Treasury.
The National Treasury said all budget processes would be explained when Mboweni gave his speech next week.
“Budget process allocations will be announced during MTBPS. It is premature to offer comments now.
“All we can confirm at this point is that the R350 Covid-related grant has been extended for three months based on the president’s announcement,” he said Sunday.
Mboweni was cited in reports that the Treasury would have to raise an additional 6 billion rand in other budgets to fund SRD grants.
Political Bureau
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