Browsing by Author "Senona, Engenas"

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    Social Protection in a Time of Covid
    (The Black Sash, 2021) Torkelson, Erin; Zembe-Mkabile, Wanga; Senona, Engenas
    The Covid-19 Social Relief of distress Grant (Covid-19 SRD) was introduced in South Africa in May 2020 to mitigate the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. It provided for people between 18 and 59 years of age, who had no income nor access to any other form of social assistance. This was an unprecedented moment in the history of social security in South Africa, initiated under enormous pressure in a remarkably short space of time. It drew people who had previously been excluded from the social grant programme, namely those aged 18 to 59 years, into the social protection network, creating a platform for Basic Income Support in the future. And yet, the Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant was not perfect. The R350 amount was not linked to an objective measure of poverty, and fell well below the food poverty line (R585).