Black Sash welcomes R350 Covid grant extension
Human rights organisation Black Sash has welcomed the extension of the R350 grant, saying it will go a long way to ease the burden on poor South Africans.
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday night announced that the Social Relief of Distress Grant would be available for another year.
READ: State of the Nation: Ramaphosa extends R350 grant
Civil society groups had intensified their calls for this support for the unemployed to continue.
"The benefits of the SRD grant cannot be underestimated," says Black Sash's Esley Philander.
ALSO READ: Ramaphosa: Changes within leadership at security agencies needed following July unrest
"Together with our community partners, the Black Sash will intensify advocacy efforts to increase the value of the grant to at match the food poverty line, which is currently R624 and there is the grant's administrative and design flaws so that beneficiaries can access these grants in a dignified way."
Meanwhile, the Durban Chamber of Commerce says it welcomes the president's recognition of business as a job creator in his address.
Deputy President of the chamber Gladwin Mashile says it's also a relief the government will be taking action over the July unrest.
"The fact that the cabinet is taking ownership about what happened in the July unrest is very important to us.
"We find this as a step that we can now look for solutions together with the government because if people were denying it, it was going to be a problem to definitely find solutions."
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