Cabinet sent basic income grant plan back to the drawing board

The draft Basic Income Support policy has been sent back to the Department of Social Development by Cabinet, the department told Parliament on Wednesday. Graphic: Lisa Nelson

• Cabinet has not yet approved the draft basic income support policy, citing concerns around affordability and the need to link the grant to economic opportunities.
• On Wednesday, the Department of Social Development briefed Parliament’s portfolio committee, saying it will ask for another extension of the Social Relief of Distress grant in the meantime.
• MPs criticised the slow progress and raised concerns about the long delays.

Cabinet has not yet approved publication of the Department of Social Development’s (DSD) draft basic income support policy, Parliament’s portfolio committee for social development heard on Wednesday.

The department said the draft policy had been tabled with the Social Protection, Community and Human Development Cabinet Committee in November 2024, but Cabinet requested changes, particularly on affordability and linking the grant to economic opportunities for beneficiaries.

A workshop is scheduled for the end of June, followed by engagements with the Presidency, National Treasury and the Department of Employment and Labour.

Once these are complete, the department intends to return to Cabinet in the second quarter of the 2025/26 financial year for approval to publish the revised draft for public comment.

Brenda Sibeko, DSD deputy director-general of comprehensive social security, said the draft had been revised to “better integrate” pathways from income support to employment and entrepreneurship. She acknowledged that the policy had been in development “for a long time”, but said the delay was necessary to ensure the policy was evidence-based, financially sustainable, and aligned with broader economic objectives.

“There was acknowledgement that the country hasn’t been able to create the jobs required for people not to need the grant,” she said. “We still need a basic income grant for those not absorbed by jobs.” She said the department was working to improve data systems, align government programmes and reduce long-term grant dependency.

Sibeko said the policy “was not rejected by Cabinet, but needed tightening” and the impact on the budget had to be considered. “Once you make the grant permanent, it must be budgeted for every year … There’s competition for different government interventions and the social grants are one of those.”

She said the draft policy focused only on income support, but Cabinet had asked for stronger links to “to amend, off-ramp or graduate people from depending on the grant. Those are functions of other government departments … But the Cabinet felt that we needed to draw those links much closer in the policy,” Sibeko said.

Sibeko said the department had also asked the Treasury for an extension of the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant proposal for the next two years while finalising the basic income policy.

However, the Treasury only approved the continuation of the SRD grant until March 2026. Sibeko said the department intends to request a further extension for 2026/27 to avoid an interruption in income support while the new policy is being finalised.

MPs critical

MPs were critical of the pace of progress. The EFF’s Noluvuyo Tafeni said the policy had been in development for over two decades and was still not ready. She also expressed concern that the SRD grant had never been increased to match inflation.

The DA’s Alexandra Abrahams questioned whether the BIG policy would meet the same fate as other draft policies like the national strategy to accelerate action for children and the maternal support draft, which were submitted to Cabinet last year but had also stalled. “If these are policies from previous administrations, is it not foreseeable that the BIG policy is going to meet the same end?” she asked.

The MK’s Nhlanhla Gcwabaza argued that social grants alone could not solve economic problems and called for the National Development Agency to be more actively involved in helping people exit the grant system.

Sibeko said the department still needs to obtain a socio-economic impact assessment system certificate before returning to Cabinet.

“One of the things we need to avoid is writing a glamorous policy that will never see the light of day because it’s unaffordable. Once Cabinet has given us approval to consult [the public], we will then publish the document as a green paper for consideration by the country. Once that’s done, we’ll come back and see if we need to refine the policy. Those who refine it must go back to the Cabinet to get approval to implement the policy.”

Minister of Social Development Nokuzola Tolashe told MPs that Cabinet wanted a policy that “can withstand the test of time”.

“The majority of the time, like with the SRD grant, we went to and fro in court,” she said.

“So if we say the BIG will start in 2026, in earnest, it will start so that we don’t have to withdraw it because the processes weren’t followed,” she said.

More about Basic Income Grant

• R2,000 unconditional grant improves lives, KZN study finds 30 September 2024
• Churches join call for basic income grant 26 July 2024
• Can South Africa afford a Basic Income Grant? Or can we afford not to? 26 April 2024

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