How A Rs 1,580 Allowance Sustained Families In South Africa During Covid

A new documentary film reveals how a monthly Rs 1,580 ($19) grant from the South African government instituted during the Covid pandemic for unemployed people has changed the lives of the beneficiaries.

'A Decent Path' relates the impact of the Social Relief of Distress (SROD) grant on the lives of four main beneficiaries.

Interspersed with conversations with policy experts, including the Minister of Social Development Minister Zulu, the documentary shows the how devastating the loss of the grant could be for the beneficiaries.

Funding for the documentary came from the UN Sustainable Development Fund through UNICEF South Africa.

The monthly income support brought immediate relief to millions of unemployed adults and kept many local economies afloat, greatly reducing economic disaster that could have followed the devastating impact of the pandemic and the lockdowns that followed.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has praised the programme for its "reducing poverty and enabling recipients to search for jobs and to engage in other economic activities to support their livelihoods." South Africa provides grants to poor children and older persons as well as people with disabilities, but until the SROD grant was introduced, no social income support was available for working age adults in a country with almost 12 million unemployed adults.

In his Medium Term Budget Policy Statement earlier this week, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced extension of the SROD till 2024-25 Budget.

This will be the programme's fifth year since its introduction in May 2020.

The Department of Social Development said there was global evidence that income support not only meets basic needs but is also one of the most significant investments in stimulating local economies.

"A recent study in 42 countries shows a multiplier return of up to five times on government grant spending especially in countries of high inequality, and South Africa is the most unequal country in the world," it said in a statement.

"The documentary ends with a clear understanding of how transformative a decent universal basic income could be," the statement said. 

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