Families that struggle to make ends meet believe the R350 Covid-19 social distress relief grant will improve the quality of their lives and help prevent hunger.
Mother of four Londi Mathenjwa of Diepkloof, Soweto, said she often runs out of money before the month ends and is forced to find other means to ensure that her family does not go to bed on empty stomachs.
Mathenjwa, who is a recipient of social grants, believes that the R350 that has been reinstated and expanded to include mothers like her will make a great difference in her life.
She told Sowetan on Monday she will now be able to buy more food, school uniforms and clothes for her children.
“I already spend R380 on extra classes for my child, who’s doing matric, R600 on food and R300 on clothes,” Mathenjwa said.
“I am out of sugar even as I am speaking to you now..
“It has been difficult as I have not been able to buy warm clothes for all of my children in this cold weather.”
Child support grant recipients such as Mathenjwa and Zanele Nyoka say the grant is a much-needed boost.
Nyoka, 40, also of Diepkloof, is a mother of two minor children and lives in a rented backyard room. She said her life was a constant struggle for survival.
She receives a R900 monthly child support grant for her two children. but said said the money barely covered their school needs, pocket money and transport.
“My rent is R1,200. The father of my children pays R800 [towards maintenance] and I do washing and cleaning work for people in my area and they pay me about R400 so that I add to his and pay rent. With the R350, it will be much easier to cover the rent.”
An economist and a human rights group also believe this is a huge effort towards alleviating hunger as a result of a high unemployment rate amid the pandemic.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Sunday that the grant will be reinstated until March and be extended to those previously excluded, including unemployed caregivers getting child support grants.
On Monday, social development minister Lindiwe Zulu said the country could not afford to have such a high number of “people who are hungry and in distress.”
Pinkies Thwala, 50, of Diepkloof, who is a previous recipient of the R350 grant, said the money had supplemented her 71-year-old mother’s pension.
“Before the grant was discontinued, I would help my mother and buy more food at home. When the government stopped it, we struggled,” said Thwala.
Hoodah Abrahams-Fayker from human rights organisation Black Sash, which has been advocating for the reinstatement of the R350 grant and its extension to women on social grants, said this was a step in the Right direction.
“Ninety percent of people who receive the social grants are women, and they were unfairly discriminated against, so obviously we are pleased but we are concerned that the amount of the grant hasn’t been increased,” Abrahams-Fayker said.
Economist Duma Gqubule said according to his calculations, the reinstated grant will now reach about 12.1 million people and cost about R4.3bn a month,
“More than a 100 countries have implemented unconditional cash transfers to the people in response to the [Covid-19] crisis because the benefit of the cash transfer is an immediate benefit to the economy,” he said.
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