Social Development Department will spend R266bn on social grants in 2024/25 - Minister Tolashe

17 Jul 2024

During her budget vote speech, Sisisi Tolashe also said she would fill all critical posts in her department, finalise key pieces of legislation and continue supporting vulnerable individuals despite fiscal constraints.

Social Development Minister Sisisi Tolashe tabled her priorities for the year during her budget vote speech in Parliament on Wednesday, saying “reigniting the role of family” was of major importance.

“Through this budget, we want to draw attention to the importance of strengthening vulnerable families by providing access to a range of essential support services that build resilience and self-reliance within families,” she said.

The budget was presented against the backdrop of an increasingly constrained fiscal environment, high inflation that had caused a cost-of-living crisis and rising social ills that placed a huge demand for social services, said Tolashe.

“These budget cuts have significant consequences for the social sector, most notably for the employment of social service professionals who are at the centre of service delivery for this sector.”

Tolashe said budget cuts also negatively affected non-profit organisations, which had had their funding significantly reduced. She would engage with MECs in all provinces to determine how best to address these challenges.

Read more: Gauteng non-profits face closure after province cuts funding

Social grants

The department’s overall budget for 2024/25 is R275-billion.

“Of this amount, R266-billion is for the payment of 28 million social grants. Included in this number are around nine million eligible beneficiaries receiving the Social Relief of Distress grant,” said Tolashe.

The extension of the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant until 2025 has given the department adequate time to finalise the draft policy on a basic income grant, which will be tabled in Cabinet this financial year.

The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) received a budget allocation of R7.7-billion for the 2024/25 financial year to administer grants, while the National Development Agency (NDA) received R214.3-million.

Tolashe said the demand for services from the department had increased because of weather-related natural disasters, which had become more frequent and more devastating.

“From the tornado in Tongaat to the raging storms and floods here in the Western Cape, the human and economic toll of these disasters on the most vulnerable is enormous. I must point out that this area of our work remains inadequately funded in the sector,” she said.

Tolashe said families were greatly affected by gender-based violence and femicide.

“Our efforts this year are on the expansion of shelters, the Khuseleka One-Stop Centres and the provision of psychosocial support services. I have received a full briefing on the Gender-Based Violence Command Centre, and we are strengthening the operations to make it more efficient and effective,” she said.

Digital technology

Sassa was digitising and automating its operations so clients could access services without having to visit the agency’s offices. The minister said the department had also rolled out a system to reduce queues.

“To date, we have piloted the queue management system in 66 Sassa offices nationally. We intend to roll out this system to an additional 45 offices in the current financial year.”

She said that since 2012, Sassa had progressively modernised the social grants payment space by gradually phasing out cash pay points and ensuring that every social grant beneficiary had access to a bank account.

“The shift away from high-risk payment instruments like cash aims to enhance financial inclusion for social grant beneficiaries within the National Payment System — the primary payment system used by everyone in South Africa.”

Read more: Grant beneficiaries tell of struggles to get payouts from Sassa

The department, she said, would revive and finalise key pieces of legislation including the Victim Support Services Bill, certain sections of the Children’s Amendment Bill and the Older Persons Amendment Bill. A policy on social development services for persons with disabilities would be implemented.

One of the most urgent administrative tasks that Tolashe is focused on is ensuring the filling of all critical posts, including that of the director-general, in the current financial year.

“Working with the board of the NDA, we will equally prioritise the finalisation of the process for the appointment of the chief executive officer for the NDA in the coming months,” she said.

Addressing systemic failures

Democratic Alliance MP Bridget Masango said that while the mandate of the department had always been to serve the country’s poorest and most vulnerable, the reality on the ground was vastly different.

“For at least as long as I’ve served on this [social development] committee, which is nearly a decade, we have … raised challenges that continue to wear down the poor and vulnerable, but these have fallen on deaf ears,” she said.

Masango said she was happy that Tolashe had committed to addressing the issues plaguing the department.

“We hope that [addressing] the systemic failures affecting Sassa and its chronic late payment of grants, lack of social workers in the department, and the vital subsidies to NPOs will be key priorities.”

Masango said the portfolio committee would ensure that outstanding legislation addressing fundamental issues was brought to Parliament, notably the Children’s Amendment Bill.

“The committee will also keep an eye on the department’s management of its finances. We hope that the department has plans in place to ensure that irregular, wasteful and fruitless expenditure — standing at R18.5-million at the moment — will be eliminated,” she said.

Paulnita Marais from the EFF said the budget was “woefully inadequate and pales in comparison with the volume of work needed to address social ills in the country”.

Marais said there was a significant and concerning shortage of social workers in SA.

“Despite the presence of over 3,000 unemployed social workers, the shortage has resulted in many schools no longer having access to social workers, even as our community faces a disturbing increase in crime and pressing social issues like gender-based violence, rape, murder and substance abuse,” she said.

Busaphi Machi from the IFP said NPOs, which were the backbone of many impoverished communities, remained severely underfunded, with many having had their budgets cut, leaving children and the elderly vulnerable.

“The department has reported that the Cabinet has approved a reduction in the budget amounting to R1.8-billion over the medium-term expenditure framework. The department cannot continue on the same trajectory as the previous administration when it comes to the employment of social workers,” she said.

Machi said budget cuts did not inspire any hope that the department would be able to implement a basic income grant and urged the new administration to break the cycle of the previous administration that only paid lip service to the people of South Africa. DM

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South Africa

Social grants

Digital technology

Addressing systemic failures