Minister Skweyiya Announces Changes to Means Test to Allow More People to Apply for Social Grants

This means that just over a million people who were excluded before, will now be in a position to apply for a social grant.

Dr Skweyiya announced that the means test applicable to the child support grant is changed from R1,100 to R2,200 per month. The Care Dependency grant income threshold is increased from R4,000 to R9,400 per month. For the adult grants, the income threshold is increased from R1,900 to R2,200 per month and the value of the assets increases from R338 000 to R450 000 per year for unmarried persons and doubled for married persons.

The regulations will be published in the government gazette on Monday, 25 August 2008.

Minister Skweyiya said: "This brings relief to those who are faced with distress and undue hardship. The measures are part of government's war on poverty campaign. This is indeed a step in the right direction especially in these hard times where the cost of living has increased as a result of high food and petrol prices. The lack of adjustment of the means test to make it in line with inflation had diminished the value of the grants more especially in purchasing the basket of goods and services that is mostly consumed by the poor".

Dr. Skweyiya remains concerned about the number of people without identification documents who have applied for social grants. "People with alternative forms of identification, who do not have an identity document, should go to the nearest SASSA offices to ascertain if they qualify for a grant, they will be assisted. We however call upon all South Africans to go to the Department of Home Affairs to apply for identity documents and birth certificates for children", said Dr Skweyiya.

Enquiries: Kgati Sathekge
Cell: 082 808 9486

Issued by:
Department of Social Development