DURBAN - ADVOCACY group Black Sash has called for the reinstatement of the Covid-19 Social Relief Grant, warning that more families are becoming vulnerable to hunger and malnutrition owing to the lockdown and unemployment.
The group questioned the political will from government to protect vulnerable people following Sunday’s announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa of the country moving to adjusted Level 4 of the lockdown for two weeks.
“The Black Sash is appalled that no social relief or distress measures were announced for unemployed people aged 18 to 59 with little to no income. The Black Sash has consistently said, unemployment, poverty and inequality have been compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Black Sash KZN Regional Manager Evashnee Naidu.
She said the group had come across numerous stories of families trying to get by, but battling because adults had not been able to get jobs because of the lockdown.
The closure of schools posed a further burden on families whose children relied on the National School Nutrition Programme, she said.
“What we are seeing is a lack of political will from the government, where the focus just seems to be on the enforcement of a lockdown where people can’t even look for piece jobs,” she continued.
The regional manager stressed that it was imperative that stricter lockdown regulations be complemented by the immediate reinstatement of the Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Grant.
In addition to this, Black Sash insisted that the grant's eligibility criteria must be expanded to include unemployed women who receive a Child Support Grant (CSG) on behalf of children. On average, only about 30% of recipients of the Covid-19 SRD grant were women. About 98% of women are recipients of the CSG which made them automatically ineligible for the Covid-19 SRD grant.
The government must prioritise humanitarian relief measures as part of its strategy to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. If this third wave is projected to last longer and have a higher peak than the previous wave of infections, then the government has no justification for terminating income support measures,” said Naidu.
Research by the advocacy group had also found that people who were eligible but did not receive the Covid-19 SRD grant were more frequently skipping meals and rationing food to cope with increased food insecurity.
The group further warned that by failing to honour its constitutional and international obligations to provide social assistance to the unemployed who are excluded from social protection programmes, the government is allowing the already serious humanitarian crisis to reach catastrophic proportions.
THE MERCURY