R350 relief grant: Treasury to brief Parliament on R2.8bn extension

The National Treasury is expected to brief the Standing Committee on Special Appropriations on the allocation of a further R2.8 billion to extend the special Covid-19 social relief of distress grant.

This forms part of the bill tabled earlier this year on further budget allocations for the government’s Covid-19 response.

According to Parliament officials, the bill will be passed by the end of June, the deadline by which Parliament has to process it, according to legislation. The public have until Friday 21 May to make comments on the bill.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the extension of the Covid-19 grant for a further three months during his State of the Nation address in February. This left many worried the grant would eventually be stopped and several organisations including #PayTheGrants have run campaigns to extend the grant.

The grants ran until the end of April.

Also Read: R350 social grants to end in May: here’s when they’ll be paid

Stipulated in the bill is an amount of R2.826 billion to be appropriated from the national revenue fund for expenditure.

Social security agency Sassa has said there is no fixed date for the payment of the grants and applicants will be paid so long as they qualify. Millions of applicants have not made it to this stage of the process, however. The grant has received 9.7 million applicants and about 6 million beneficiaries received this grant on a monthly basis.

The appropriations bill also includes an amount of R1.25 billion to be appropriated from state coffers to procure Covid-19 vaccines and implement a related Covid-19 vaccine research project.

Here are your May 2021 Sassa payment dates:

SASSA has recently released a payment schedule for the month of May, and are as follows:

• Older Person’s Grants will be paid from 4 May 2021 (including all other grants that are linked to older person’s grants),
• Disability Grants will be paid from 5 May 2021 (including any grant linked to these accounts), and
• Child grants and all other social grants will be paid from 6 May 2021.

May payment dates for social grants @The_DSD @nda_rsa @PostofficeSa @GovernmentZA @GCISMedia #SASSACARES pic.twitter.com/MLizPxss3O

— SASSA (@OfficialSASSA) April 30, 2021

Simnikiweh@citizen.co.za