Minister Bathabile Dlamini welcomes the increase in social grants
Social Development Minister Ms Bathabile Dlamini has welcomed the social grant increases announced by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in his Budget Speech today in Cape Town.
With effect from April, the Old Age, Care Dependency and Disability Grants increase by R80 to R1 350 a month while the Child Support Grant will go up with an average of 6.8 percent from R300 to R310 a month, with a further increase of R10 at midyear to R320. The increase of social grant values is in line with inflation forecast at 6.2 percent in 2014/15 financial year.
“The provision of social assistance is a Constitutional imperative and the main purpose is to combat poverty, especially amongst the poor and the most vulnerable members of our society. The increase in the value of social grants is a step in the right direction especially in these hard economic times occasioned by high cost of food, petrol and other basic necessities, and we welcome this move by the Minister of Finance” said Minister Dlamini.
“Social Grants are one of the most effective means of alleviating child and adult poverty amongst the vulnerable who would have otherwise been subjected to extreme poverty for the rest of their lives. That is why we are working hard to improve the social grant system and to eliminate all barriers for those who are eligible” Minister Dlamini added.
Earlier today, Minister Dlamini met with representatives of Black Sash to discuss the unauthorised and unlawful deductions of social grants. This meeting follows the open letter Black Sash wrote to Minister Dlamini and several Ministers and public entities regarding the matter. At the meeting the Minister and Black Sash agreed to establish a joint team that will look into the issues raised. One of the immediate measures that the Team will look into is recourse for social grant beneficiaries who have lost their monies through these unlawful and unauthorised deductions.
“The new biometric based payment solution has brought many benefits for SASSA and Government as a whole. However, it has also brought many unforeseen challenges that have opened a window of opportunity for unscrupulous businesses, including loan sharks who prey on the most vulnerable. As Government, we are determined to work with Black Sash to protect social grant beneficiaries from all these unlawful and unauthorised deductions from the SASSA card”, Minister Dlamini said.
To demonstrate her commitment, Minister Dlamini instructed SASSA officials to pay in full the Old Age Grant of a pensioner from North West whose SASSA card has been unlawfully deducted since November last year.
Minister Dlamini also announced that she will conduct unannounced and random frontline service delivery visits to social grant pay points throughout the country.
Media enquiries:
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E-mail: LumkaO@dsd.gov.za
