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The increasing number of active South Africans jobseekers to more than 8.1 million adults, together with sustained slow economic growth that is not projected to speed up soon, is a national crisis that is being hopelessly inadequately addressed by the R370 SRD grant.

By the State’s own reckoning, the extreme poverty line (known as the Food Poverty Line), indicating the amount of money an individual needs to afford the minimum required daily energy, is R855 per person per month. That excludes people’s day-to-day needs for toiletries, cleaning materials, clothing, blankets, heating, bus tickets, etc.   

According to the unemployment numbers for the first quarter of the year released by StatsSA today, unemployment rose 1.6% to 43.7% (by the expanded definition, including active and inactive jobseekers). That’s 12.4 million people.

South Africa’s Constitution is different to many others in that the socio-economic rights it confers are legally actionable. These rights have been interpreted by the Constitutional Court as requiring the State to take reasonable measures, within available resources, to progressively realise the rights of people who cannot afford to fund them themselves. That includes the right to sufficient food and water.

The State is not awash with cash. It cannot afford to fund everything that it already does, while taking on the extra burden of introducing a Basic Income Grant. In order to meet its Constitutional requirements and fund a BIG, it must trim fat, waste and corruption. 

Three years ago, the GOOD Party funded economic research showing that it was within the State’s means to afford a R1000-a-month BIG. What was needed was a zero-based approach to budgeting: Instead of modelling next year’s budget on last year’s, and the year before that - going all the way back to Van Riebeeck - South Africa’s spending should be determined by its real-time priorities. The budget-making process should effectively start each year from scratch.  

The levels of poverty, indignity and hopelessness in South Africa are unsustainable. The State must act urgently in defence of justice and Constitutional order.

Issued by GOOD Secretary-General Brett Herron