DA accuses ANC of being 'on a mission' to stop R350 grant so it can bail out the post office

The DA has accused the ANC of “being on a mission” to stop the R350 social relief of distress (SRD) grants so it can grant the SA Post Office and other state-owned entities another bailout.

Bloomberg this week reported the National Treasury warned it can’t afford to extend welfare grants to the poor due to an over-stretched budget and spending pressures, including additional funding requests from Transnet, SAA, SA Post Office and Denel totalling more than R12bn.

According to a document seen by the publication, the post office indicated it needs R2.4bn, SAA requested R3.5bn, Denel asked for R3.4bn and Transnet wanted R2.9bn. 

The post office's request comes after a R9.3bn bailout request made in March. That came at the same time as Telkom, among other debts, threatened to cut the state company off over an outstanding bill of R269m. 

The DA said should the post office receive the bailout it will leave the most vulnerable without a source of income.

The R350 SRD grant was introduced in 2020 to assist those most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The party said digital communications minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni was unable to put her foot down. 

“Ntshavheni and the rest of the ANC cabinet are determined to stop all R350 grant payments in lieu of the post office bailout request, leaving the most vulnerable without a single source of income,” said the DA. 

“It has become clear that privatisation is no longer a viable option. The only solution SA can consider is to liquidate the post office and make way for private companies to do the job it no longer can.

“Most people only use the post office to receive their grants, but now that they want to stop these grants, there is no real reason for the government to keep beating this dead horse. Many private companies have already taken over the duties of the post office. Licence renewals can be made at various shops, and mail is delivered quickly, and on time, by PostNet.”

Last week, the Institute for Economic Justice rejected what it called a devastating proposal by the government to replace the R350 SRD grant with a jobseeker or caregiver grant.

The government proposed replacing the SRD grant with a combination of an SRD-job-seeker grant and an SRD-caregiver grant for those who are unemployed or cannot work.

The caregiver’s grant would see the grant applying only to those caring for children younger than two.

In a statement, the IEJ said the proposal will exclude millions of poor people, saying it is “regressive, unworkable and unconstitutional”.

“SA is facing a dire socioeconomic crisis with widespread poverty, persistent and high unemployment and growing hunger. While its value is grossly inadequate and there have been myriad problems with its administration, the R350 Covid-19 SRD grant has played a critical role in providing support to some of the most vulnerable people who bear the brunt of this crisis and have not previously been eligible for income support,” said the institute.

“Instead of steps to make this permanent and progressively scale it up, the National Treasury has prepared regressive and unworkable proposals that seek to exclude many, if not the majority, of its current recipients. This threatens the livelihoods of millions of people.”

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