‘Nothing left’: SASSA SRD recipient struggles to survive on R370 a month
· The South African
An unemployed woman in the Western Cape says she has “nothing left” by month’s end, despite relying entirely on her SASSA Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant to feed her household.
The recipient who lives in a shared family home with one or two dependants has received the SASSA SRD grant for less than a year. Every cent goes toward food and groceries, she said, but it’s rarely enough.
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“It helps but it is not enough,” she told The South African. Asked what’s left by the time the next payment arrives, her answer was blunt: nothing.
Declined applications and travel costs deepen the struggle
Her path with SASSA hasn’t been smooth. She experienced a declined or lapsed application in the past, and when she sought additional support from other programmes, she was either turned down or gave up trying. Living between five and twenty kilometres from her nearest SASSA office adds another cost most recipients don’t think about: the transport money she can’t easily spare, especially when trying to job-hunt in areas further from home.
Still, she rated her overall experience with SASSA as very good, crediting the direct bank deposit system for saving her the cost and hassle of collecting payment in person.
Unemployment remains her biggest fear
She’s not alone. South Africa’s unemployment rate sits above 32%, and the Western Cape is among the provinces with the highest concentration of grant recipients, alongside Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. She has admin and office experience but says opportunities are scarce, particularly for jobseekers without connections or funds to travel for interviews. Unemployment, she said, remains her single biggest concern.
Her message to SASSA was simple: increase the grant amount. At R370 a month, she says the SRD grant falls far short of covering even basic expenses and for families like hers, any increase could be the difference between going hungry and getting by.
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