Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu Says South Africans Need to Reapply for Social Grants

• South Africans who previously received the R350 social relief grant will have to reapply for the new Social Relief of Distress Grant
• Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu says the application process is to ensure only eligible people will receive the grant
• Unemployed caregivers who are also recipients of Sassa grants may also apply for the Social Relief of Distress Grant

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Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu says South Africans will need to reapply in order to have access to the Social Relief of Distress Grant.

This comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Sunday that the R350 social relief grant has been reimplemented and will be in place until March next year, according to News24.

Unlike the previous grant, recipients of Sassa grants who are unemployed caregivers are also eligible to receive funding from this current programme.

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In an interview with eNCA, Zulu explained that the department of social development has already set up a system to roll out the Social Relief of Distress Grant.

In terms of receiving the grant, Zulu stated that individuals will only receive their social grants if they meet the requirements. They will also have to fill out an application form again despite having been recipients of the previous social relief grant.

Zulu stated that the reason for this process was that the department does not want to pay individuals who may have access to an income.

"The bottom line is that we need to be responsive, we need to be accountable with the money that has to go out," said Zulu.

She said that although the department will be starting from scratch in terms of the application process, the systems are already in place and the department is prepared to handle the distribution of social relief grants.

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Zulu further stated the current systems have been upgraded and will be able to weed out individuals who may try to access the social relief grant while they are ineligible.

Zulu added that through research, the department had seen that the previous R350 grant had a huge impact on the lives of South Africans and welcomed Ramaphosa's announcement.

R350 Social Relief of Distress Grant to be reinstated

Briefly News previously reported that President Cyril Ramaphosa stated recently that the Social Relief of Distress Grant (SRD) will be reinstated until March 2022. The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) administers the R350 grant.

Also receiving the grant will be caregivers who are unemployed and receiving a child support grant. The criteria of eligibility for the SRD grant will be extended to include others.

The South African government will also be contributing R400 million to the Humanitarian Crisis Relief Fund, which was established by the Solidarity Fund. The money will be used to assist the needs of affected communities as soon as possible.

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Source: Briefly News