IEJ says SRD grant income assessment is exclusionary – SABC News – Breaking news, special reports, world, business, sport coverage of all South African current events. Africa’s news leader.
The Institute of Economic Justice (IEJ) has stressed that the income assessment used by the Department of Social Development and SASSA to issue the SRD grants is exclusionary.
The IEJ emphasised that relying on bank accounts to determine income is not enough for the department to make conclusions.
The IEJ legal representative, Advocate Jason Brickhill, told the court that it has never been prescriptive about the amount that should be paid as an SRD grant but has called on the government to consider the value of the grant.
WATCH | The Supreme Court of Appeal is hearing government’s appeal against a ruling on the R370 Social Relief of Distress grant. IEJ Executive Director Dr Gilad Isaacs says the issue is not affordability, but government’s budget priorities. pic.twitter.com/0n01VG5h2Y
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Advocate Brickhill submitted that budget and affordability are cited as limitations, yet the SRD budget has never been fully spent since inception.
He argued that this cannot be used to justify the arbitrary exclusion of eligible applicants.
Brickhill accepted the R20 increase as a step forward but said more could be done to reach the poverty line.