By Fr Stanslaus Muyebe
The poor and the unemployed should not be abandoned after the expiry of the Covid-19 grant next month.
Although the level of the Social Relief of Distress Grant of R350 a month is not enough to cover a decent standard of living, it has contributed to poverty relief in a context of massive job losses arising from the pandemic.
It is evident that, for the foreseeable future, the slow-growth economy will not have the capacity to absorb all the unemployed.
It is, therefore, important the government seriously considers the extension of special Covid-19 grant beyond next month and until such a time that it manages to introduce a permanent social protection for the unemployed, especially the missing middle between the ages of 19 and 59.
Beyond next month, those who have lost their jobs and informal business should not be abandoned.
The government should also publish its policy position on the basic income grant that it announced in July.
This would allow engagement and input from various stakeholders, especially in relation to the financing mechanism for the grant.
In a time of low economic growth and slowdown in tax revenues, the fiscal space for expanding the social grant system seems to be severely constrained.
In seeking a solution, the government should not proceed unilaterally and without broad-based consultation. The civil society coalitions should be included as a serious social partner in such a consultative process.
The government’s announcement of the grant in July was clearly short in terms of details, especially about whether the basic income grant would entail the restructuring of the entire social policy system.
The current structure does not allow a meaningful enjoyment of the right to social security for the missing middle, those between the ages of 19 and 59, which could translate to about 32 million people.
This policy gap has been dramatically exposed by the massive job losses during the pandemic. This is the age bracket that is heavily impacted by job losses, food inflation and the other economic impacts of the pandemic.
Without effective intervention, in form of job creation and social protection, there is likelihood that a significant percentage of this age group will slide into extreme poverty and create conditions for an escalation of social protests.
There is, therefore, an urgent need to progressively integrate this age group into a safety net framework without creating a culture of dependency.
The economic impact of the pandemic should continue to remind us that those thrust into the peripheries of the economy should not be left to fend for themselves.
They deserve access to basic necessities of life since they too are bearers of God’s gift of human dignity.
Just as it was the case before the pandemic, extreme poverty is not created by God.
It is a result of society’s reluctance to share equitably, a severe lack of social solidarity.
The basic income grant is one of the expressions of social solidarity, an ethical value which should become the basis for a new society in the post Covid-19 era.
Father Stanslaus Muyebe is a Catholic priest belonging to the Dominican Order.
The Star