Mayibongwe Maqhina|Published
The National Treasury on Wednesday said the R370 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) will be extended in its current form for another year while a replacement grant is being considered.
"The social relief of distress grant will be extended for another year while work continues on integration with labour market activation, skills development and enterprise support interventions.
"Beneficiaries will be linked to employment, training and business opportunities through the MzansiXchange (data exchange platform) enabling cross-government beneficiary verification)," said National Treasury in its 2026 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS).
The continuation of the SRD falls short of an undertaking by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana that the modalities and format of what President Cyril Ramaphosa had referred to as a Livelihood Grant would be outlined in his Medium Term Budget Policy Statement.
New Livelihood Grant
Ramaphosa had in his State of the Nation Address earlier this year stated that the SRD grant had played a pivotal role in alleviating widespread poverty.
“This year, we will redesign the grant to more effectively support livelihoods, skills development, work opportunities and productive activity,” he said at the time.
In February, Godongwana said discussions regarding a New Livelihood Grant to replace the SRD were underway.
The SRD, introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, has been a lifeline for millions of South Africans facing food insecurity.
Godongwana had in February allocated an additional R36.4 billion to extend SRD payments until 31 March 2027 at the current R370 per month per beneficiary.
The allocation was up from the R34.2 billion set aside in the 2025/26 financial year.
Meanwhile, the National Treasury named the SRD as one of the three expenditure risks confronting the government along with the National Student Financial Aid Scheme and compensation of employees.
"Legal challenges to the regulations governing the social relief of distress grant represents a material expenditure risk," said the MTBPS.
Court challenge could increase SRD costs
The government has appealed to the Supreme Court of Appeal a high court judgment delivered in January earlier this year that found the means test threshold, grant value, definition of income and income verification arrangements invalid.
The National Treasury said the fiscal impact will depend on the outcome of litigation and policy response.
It warned that the number of beneficiaries and total cost of the SRD could increase substantially if the high court judgment is upheld.
"Preliminary estimates suggest that it could add three million eligible beneficiaries and increase the annual funding requirement from about R36 billion to R74 billion," said the MTBPS.