Johannesburg - The One South Africa movement, led by Mmusi Maimane, along with the non-profit company “RightFulShare” have undertaken a step to launch a basic income grant model which will see disadvantaged individuals receive a R1200 cash payment for 18 months.
Maimane and Karen Jooste, the founder of RightFulShare, announced the project on Monday. Both were members of the DA.
The idea for a basic income grant has been a growing issue in South Africa which has grown louder over the past couple of months as the Covid-19 pandemic has left many without an income.
The Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu, confirmed that the government was looking into implementing a basic income grant.
Her comments follow the government’s implementation of a R350 Covid-19 social relief of distress grant to unemployed individuals during the pandemic.
Maimane and Jooste believe what is being offered by the government will not work and instead, their plan could help deal with those who have been left behind in the economy and also help address issues with the BEE scheme.
As it stands, the RightFulShare scheme will see individuals aged between 18 and 59 years be selected to receive a monthly cash payment of R1 200 for 18 months.
The money for the pilot income grant scheme will come from funds donated from the private sector.
Individuals between the ages of 18 and 59 years who feel they have been economically excluded will be able to apply for the grant via RightFulShare’s website and will participate in a monthly raffle.
The raffle will start in March 2021 and will end in April 2022. Payments will begin in March 2021.
Each individual who applies will be given a ballot number and each month 10 ballots will be drawn at random and those chosen will receive the “RightFulShare” income grant of R1200 for 18 months.
The people chosen will come from a rural town. It’s unclear which town this will be at the moment.
Maimane and Jootse said the project would prove to South Africans that a basic income grant was feasible for the country.
The plan for the grant goes further than the pilot project and envisions a change to the country’s BEE scorecard system.
It’s envisioned that instead of companies with an annual turnover of over R50 million complying with BEE scorecards, they would be required to pay 10% of their net after-tax profit into a “RightFulShare Fund”.
The fund will then be used as a fund pool for the basic income grant which will be paid to citizens in need.
“A business is 100% compliant when they have done this, and all other BEE requirements fall away. It meets the criteria of certainty, clarity and simplicity, all of which investors like, and there is no place for corruption to take place.
"All indirect costs associated with the implementation of BEE and compliance monitoring fall away. Small- to medium-sized businesses are not included in this model, as the threshold for compliance is moved up to those with an annual turnover of R50 million a year or more,” Jooste said.
Jooste and Maimane said they hope to convince other NGOs to support the project.
Political Bureau