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By Zintle Mahlati 
15h ago
Johannesburg – President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recent announcement of an extension of the Social Relief of Distress grant has been welcome, but has also raised concerns about why other caregiver grants were not extended beyond the end of October.
Ramaphosa initially introduced the special R350 Covid-19 social distress relief grant intended for unemployed individuals at the beginning of the national shutdown.
This relief was also accompanied by an increase in other grants, including the Senior Grant and the Children’s Grant, whose beneficiaries are caregivers.
However, the additional reload of these grants ends at the end of October, but only SRD grants will be extended. Child support recipients received an additional R500 between June and October and other grant recipients completed R250.
This has raised the alarm of civil society organizations that earlier last week, before Ramaphosa’s speech to Parliament, called for an extension of the subsidies linked to Covid-19 and that they be increased.
Concerns persist about the impact that a zero extension of caregiver grants will have on women, who find themselves as caregivers but also unemployed.
If a caregiver receives a social grant, they cannot apply for the SRD grant, which leaves many women disenfranchised according to civil society organizations.
The Popular Coalition Covid-19, which is a group of civil society organizations including 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 has called the lack of extension of caregiver grants 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 policy is abandoning the most precarious women and children, ”the coalition said.
“If the government is going to align its rhetoric with action that would seriously help support women, then the Caregiver Grant must be extended and increased immediately,” he said.
Political Bureau
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