Please find attached soundbite by Bridget Masango MP.
The DA notes that the special Covid-19 social relief of distress (SRD) grant of R350 has not been extended and that only outstanding payments will be made.
That the Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu, could leave millions of vulnerable people who have come to depend on the grant to provide for their needs in the lurch just as President Cyril Ramaphosa announced two weeks of an adjusted Level 4 lockdown period, is shocking, but not surprising. And this during a period when many businesses are again forced to close their doors by a government that failed to prioritize a successful vaccine roll-out which enabled the rise of the third wave of infections, further decreasing the chances of finding work.
The DA has learned to expect such callousness from an ANC government that has repeatedly put their own interests and those of their cronies and the politically connected over the people of South Africa.
How many people could have been helped had Treasury not prioritised the bailout of SAA and other failing entities over the continuation of this grant, or if Covid-corruption from the government elite was not as rife as the Covid-19 virus itself?
The government has a responsibility to provide relief to the poor and unemployed during this time. The right thing to do would’ve been to extend the payment of the R350 SRD grant.
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