Billions saved as grant fraud is reduced

The government expects to save R13 billion on social assistance over the next three years through tighter grant verification, a crackdown on fraud and a decline in beneficiary numbers, partly due to South Africa’s falling fertility rate.

The savings come as the government extends the R370 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant for another year, despite ongoing uncertainty over its long-term future.

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The Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS), often referred to as the mini-budget, is the government’s October update on its spending plans, tax revenue forecasts and debt outlook over the next three years.

At this year’s MTBPS on Wednesday, National Treasury Director-General Duncan Pieterse told the media the government has yet to decide on the future of the SRD grant.

Initially introduced as temporary relief for people who lost income during the Covid-19 lockdown, the grant was set at R350 a month and is now paid at R370, amid ongoing questions about how long it will remain in place.

“We need to decide what we want it [the grant] to do. Is it about food poverty and dealing with that? Does it need to be conditional on a job search? That is why we have spoken about a jobseekers’ grant.”

Pieterse said the grant’s future could only be determined once these questions have been resolved.

He added that the grant is funded through National Treasury’s budgeting process and has been incorporated permanently into the fiscal framework.

“We have it in the baseline of the fiscal framework permanently.”

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Crackdown on grant fraud

Pieterse said the Department of Social Development had stepped up efforts to curb grant fraud after Treasury made its annual allocation to the department conditional on doing so.

Social grants account for the largest share of social development spending.

Treasury expects efforts to prevent fraudulent SRD payments to save more than R6.2 billion over three years.

The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) checks new SRD applications against information held by banks. The grant is intended for people whose monthly income falls below R624.

Pieterse said some applicants reported earning less than the amounts reflected in their banking records.

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The savings will be redirected towards other social programmes, including R1.6 billion over three years for nutrition support for pregnant women, and for tackling gender-based violence, with extra money allocated to provinces to hire social workers.

The MTBPS also said The Presidency is piloting MzansiXchange, a data-sharing platform that will cross-check grant beneficiaries and National Student Financial Aid Scheme recipients against information from Sars, the national population register and other government departments.

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Fewer child grant beneficiaries

Treasury also expects further savings as the number of social grant beneficiaries declines.

Officials attribute much of the projected reduction to falling numbers of child support grant recipients, linked to South Africa’s declining fertility rate.

The number of child support grant beneficiaries has reportedly fallen from 13 million to 12 million this year.

Court case 

The future cost of the SRD grant also depends on the outcome of a court case.

In 2025, the high court ruled that provisions governing the grant’s means-test threshold were invalid. The Supreme Court of Appeal heard the government’s appeal in August 2026, with judgment still pending.

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If the ruling is upheld, between three million and 13 million additional people could qualify for the grant, according to Treasury estimates. This could increase the annual funding requirement from about R36 billion to R74 billion.

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