MEMO ON TREASURY AND PRESIDENCY PROPOSALS TO

This is despite the success of the SRD grant in combating the worst forms of hunger and poverty, at least until March this year, and the fact that the governing party has resolved not only to extend and improve the SRD grant, but also to introduce universal basic income (see below). [...] Financing Much of the NT document is dedicated to motivating why the extension of the SRD grant, or its replacement with various instruments, would be extremely problematic to finance, even at the level of R50 billion – which is the lowest cost of the different scenarios considered by Presidency, and only slightly higher than the cost of the existing SRD grant (budgeted at R44 billion). [...] This is unconscionable in the context of the extreme distress, hunger, and poverty in the country, given that less than 5% of the budget will relieve such a high proportion of the population from this crisis; and in the context of a large surplus tax revenue since 2020 estimated at over R200 billion in relation to projections in the 2021 Budget, which could easily finance this expenditure in the s. [...] We have little doubt that if there was the will to find the resources, both for an extension and improvement of the SRD grant and its translation into permanent income support, this could be readily done, just as the President’s decision to extend the grant over a period of three years has been accompanied by the ability to find the resources, even in a period of fiscal austerity. [...] The key focus now should be on improving the efficiency and accessibility of the grant; reducing exclusion errors; and improving the value of the grant to at least the FPL; while agreeing on pathways to a system of basic income.