Question NW1382 to the Minister of Social Development

Reply:

1. The initial allocation for the special relief grant of R350 per month from May to October 2020 was R3 457 696 700. Motivation was done to National treasury to indicate that this would not be sufficient. In the special adjustment budget of 24 June 2020, an additional amount of approximately R6 billion was provided for this relief grant.

(a)(i) An additional amount of approximately R6 billion was made available in the special adjustment budget for this grant. However, this is intended to cater for all who qualify, not only the asylum seekers and special permit holders.

(ii) No additional resources other than the current internal resources being used to implement the special relief grant have been made available.

(b) A total of R949 537 750 has been paid out to approved beneficiaries as at 30 June 2020

2. The Department of Social Development has amended the Directions to accommodate asylum seekers and special permit holders from Angola, Lesotho and Zimbabwe, as directed by the court, and the revised Directions were published on 2 July 2020.

3. Yes, SASSA maintains statistics on all applications received, approved and declined.

4. Statistics are not maintained on racial demographics. The table below indicates the approved applications according to citizenship and age.

Age	SA Citizens	Permanent Residents	Refugees	Total
18	182 193	3 438	38	185 669
19	220 690	4 443	90	225 223
20	210 845	4 521	94	215 460
21	218 868	5 450	76	224 394
22	197 327	5 490	80	202 897
23	173 240	5 334	78	178 652
24	145 010	4 758	66	149 834
25	120 722	3 728	55	124 505
26	104 268	3 225	40	107 533
27	89 123	2 595	54	91 772
28	84 157	2 268	40	86 465
29	78 136	2 097	44	80 277
30	74 184	1 988	59	76 231
31	68 719	1 710	57	70 486
32	66 001	1 630	63	67 694
33	63 756	1 500	54	65 310
34	62 572	1 518	60	64 150
35	60 163	1 456	62	61 681
36	57 831	1 388	67	59 286
37	57 910	1 424	69	59 403
38	53 068	1 420	60	54 548
39	49 799	1 259	74	51 132
40	50 840	1 240	88	52 168
41	46 036	1 228	64	47 328
42	45 052	1 181	67	46 300
43	45 651	1 299	68	47 018
44	48 094	1 312	56	49 462
45	47 682	1 360	53	49 095
46	45 889	1 365	47	47 301
47	47 956	1 460	51	49 467
48	46 402	1 377	32	47 811
49	43 844	1 361	25	45 230
50	50 692	1 466	30	52 188
51	49 167	1 437	24	50 628
52	48 707	1 528	25	50 260
53	46 515	1 465	15	47 995
54	50 230	1 534	15	51 779
55	51 778	1 611	17	53 406
56	53 629	1 547	9	55 185
57	54 309	1 646	14	55 969
58	49 561	1 492	8	51 061
59	44 576	1 364	5	45 945
60	2 958	86		3 044
Grand Total	3 408 150	90 999	2 093	3 501 242

5. The qualification criteria for applicants to qualify for the Special Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant is applied to all applicants. The gazetted criteria, including the recent amendment on 2 July 2020 is as follows:

A special COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress of R350 per month may be provided for the period indicated herein to distressed individuals who are:

• South African Citizens, Permanent Residents or Refugees registered on the Home Affairs database,and holders of special permits under the Special Angolan Dispensation, the Lesotho Exemption Permit dispensation and the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit Dispensation, and asylum seekers whose section 22 permits or visas are valid or were valid on 15 March 2020;
• Residing within the borders of the Republic of South Africa;
• Above the age of 18;
• Unemployed;
• Not receiving any social grant;
• Not receiving unemployment insurance benefit and does not qualify to receive unemployment insurance benefit;
• Not receiving a stipend from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme;
• Not in receipt of any other government COVID-19 response support; and
• Not a resident in a government funded or subsidised institution.

Applicants are declined if they do not meet any of the above criteria.