The Department of Social Development (DSD) is proposing sweeping changes to SASSA SRD grant eligibility in 2025. Recently tabled amendments to the Social Assistance Act could fundamentally change the way the R370 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant is handled, reports GroundUp.

Currently, SASSA SRD grant eligibility in 2025 stipulates earning less than R625 per month to qualify. In turn, SASSA conducts painstaking monthly checks to ensure they meet this criteria. However, one of the amendments wishes to remove the R625 income threshold. Furthermore, this is open for public comment until next Monday 14 April 2025.

Likewise, earlier this year, the Pretoria High Court ruled in favour of #PayTheGrants and the Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ). Judge Twala ruled SASSA was being deliberately exclusionary to limit successful applicants. In turn, the agency argued it simply didn’t have enough money to pay every SRD applicant.

Currently, SRD payments sit at roughly 8 million per month. However, there could be as many as double the amount of successful applications. Therefore, paying all of them would cost an additional R36 billion annually. Ultimately, Judge Twala ruled that insufficient funds was not legal grounds for imposing exclusionary SASSA SRD grant eligibility in 2025.