Godongwana says government will appeal SRD court ruling

CAPE TOWN - Finance minister Enoch Godongwana says government will appeal last month’s North Gauteng High Court ruling that could force it to widen the net on its R370 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Grant.

This would include millions more beneficiaries whom the court believes are eligible.

The grant, introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, was set to be extended by another year to March 2026 in Godongwana's budget he was scuppered from tabling on Wednesday.

But before that historic postponement, Godongwana told the media at a pre-budget press conference that expanding the grant’s reach is unaffordable.

With government’s hand forced by the court, Godongwana was set to announce a R35.2 billion allocation to extend the SRD grant for another year.
 
But the untabled budget documents don’t make provision for the outer two years – despite some lobby groups and political parties agitating for a more permanent basic income grant.

READ: Court ruling on SRD grant has put significant pressure on the budget, says Steenhuisen

Godongwana indicates in his undelivered budget speech that this would be influenced by a review expected to be completed in September.

But what is certain is that government wants to challenge the court ruling on the permanence of the grant and its eligibility criteria.

"Without all those checks and balances, you can simply triple the numbers. We are at R35 billion now. Just doubling the number takes you to 14 million beneficiaries which takes you to about R90 billion. It’s basically completely unacceptable in its present form."

Godongwana's proposed budget would also have seen above-inflation increases for other grant types, including an extra R150 for pensioners, war veterans, and care dependants.