SA's expanding safety net: Millions more to receive social grants by 2030
'One of the commitments in the National Development Plan Vision 2030 is to eradicate food poverty by 2030,' stated Hendricks.
Al Jama-ah's Ganief Hendricks at the 2024 state of the nation address (Sona) at Cape Town City Hall on 8 February 2024. Picture: Gallo Images/Ziyaad Douglas
South Africa is set to significantly expand its social welfare system over the coming years, with ambitious targets to increase coverage across multiple vulnerable groups.
The Department of Social Development has announced plans to extend older persons' grants to 5.4 million beneficiaries by the end of the five-year term in 2030, up from a mid-term target of 5 million by 2027-2028.
Similarly, child support grants are projected to reach 14.1 million children by 2030, while disability grants aim to support more than 1.1 million people by the same year.
Department unveils strategic plan amid budget constraints
The department recently unveiled its strategic plan for 2025-2030 and annual performance plan for 2025-2026, with a focus on poverty reduction, empowering resilient communities, and creating an integrated social development sector.
These plans align with national development priorities while acknowledging that the department must 'do more with less' due to budget constraints.
'The strategic priorities of the Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP) are to reduce levels of poverty and vulnerability to social ills, empower resilient individuals, families and sustainable communities, and create a functional, efficient and integrated sector,' explained a department representative during the presentation.
The MTDP, which serves as an implementation framework for the National Development Plan (NDP), focuses on three key strategic priorities: inclusive growth and job creation, reducing poverty and tackling the high cost of living, and creating a capable, ethical, and developmental state.
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Understanding the planning framework
The department operates within multiple planning timeframes that work together.
The strategic plan covers a five-year period, while the annual performance plan addresses the immediate fiscal year ending in March 2026.
The Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) is a three-year rolling budget planning tool used by the National Treasury to allocate resources based on priorities and fiscal constraints.
The NDP Vision 2030 serves as South Africa's long-term socio-economic development roadmap for the period up to 2030.
Meanwhile, the MTDP serves as an implementation framework for the NDP, typically spanning 3–5 years and encompassing specific targets and commitments.
This multi-layered approach allows the department to balance immediate fiscal realities with longer-term development goals while maintaining alignment with national priorities.
Historic legislation on the horizon
Deputy Minister of Social Development, Ganief Hendricks, told the portfolio committee that a policy on social development would be presented to Cabinet by October.
Hendricks emphasised the historic significance of such legislation, noting that '30 years in our democracy, South Africa will have an Act of Parliament for social development'.
The push for legislative reform extends beyond the department itself, with calls from various sectors for specialised legislation.
'There have also been calls from the disability sector for their own Act of Parliament to give them the power that they need,' the deputy minister explained.
The Central Drug Authority has also requested legislation to address substance abuse, which Hendricks characterised as 'becoming a threat to state security'.
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Ambitious vision for poverty eradication by 2030
The department has identified reducing poverty and tackling the high cost of living as key priorities, directly aligned with the broader strategic focus areas of the Government of National Unity (GNU) formed after the May 2024 elections.
'One of the commitments in the National Development Plan Vision 2030 is to eradicate food poverty by 2030,' stated Hendricks.
He outlined a vision where, by 2030, 'those who don't earn or work will get a guaranteed R760, but I believe R1,000 in their pocket every month.'
This commitment, according to Hendricks, would 'send waves throughout the world that South Africa does care about the most vulnerable people.'
With 28 million social grant beneficiaries, the department faces significant challenges in improving support.
'We have to do something to increase their food basket,' Hendricks explained, though he acknowledged that immediate increases would be more modest than hoped: 'Unfortunately, it looks like instead of a R150 increase, they're only going to get R120.'
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Nine portfolio commitments to address social challenges
The department has identified nine portfolio commitments aligned with the MTDP, reflecting a more focused approach as the 2030 deadline approaches.
'I think the message is that as we move towards Vision 2030, we need to begin to cut the cloth according to size. We need to begin to reprioritise and not attempt to do everything,' a department representative stated.
Key commitments include increasing access to nutritious food for vulnerable individuals, with mid-term targets of reaching 1.5 million people through food security programs by 2027-2028, and optimising social protection within available fiscal resources.
Addressing substance abuse and Gender-Based Violence
The department continues to implement the National Drug Master Plan with targets to help over 135,000 service users access substance abuse disorder treatment by mid-term (2027-2028), and nearly 273,000 by term end (2030).
For gender-based violence, the department aims to provide psychosocial services to 224,549 victims by mid-term and 449,048 by the end of the term in 2030.
'We also have the intervention as part of the MTDP commitment to link social assistance with other forms of support to lift people out of poverty, so that our people don't only depend on social grants alone,' the department added.
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Moving beyond social grant dependency
Both Hendricks and the newly appointed Director-General, Fhumulani Peter Netshipale, emphasised the need to transition beneficiaries from dependence on social grants to sustainable livelihoods.
'The National Development Agency is expected to create sustainable livelihoods so that people rapidly move from social grants into sustainable livelihoods,' Hendricks explained.
He added that the department was receiving pressure from Treasury, questioning it about its plans and actions for poverty alleviation.
The department's poverty alleviation strategy targets 1.4 million households accessing sustainable livelihood initiatives by mid-term (2027-2028), expanding to 2.9 million by the end of the term in 2030.
Enhanced monitoring and provincial oversight
A key focus for the department going forward will be strengthened monitoring of service delivery at the provincial level.
'Most of the time we used to come here, and you say what is happening in North West, but we are now called to make sure that we monitor services through all nine provinces,' Netshipale explained.
'The department needs to step up its own approach to strengthen the monitoring of services and report here in terms of what is happening in terms of the baselines that we have set.'
This represents a shift toward greater accountability.
'We will be accountable to this committee time and again in terms of what we have delivered,' added Netshipale.
Despite the significant role social grants play in alleviating poverty—currently supporting 45% of the nation—Committee Chairperson Bridget Masango expressed concern about what she termed 'dignity poverty,' particularly for young people living on the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant, a temporary assistance program for those in immediate need.
'If you have young people as young as 35 years old and younger or older living on the SRD, that is not dignified at all,' Masango stated.
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Budget allocations and constraints
The department's budget presentation revealed that while there were no major budget cuts for the MTEF period as in previous years, there were also no significant increases, requiring careful resource management.
'There were no nasty surprises, luckily for the MTEF period, as we had in the previous years, where there were budget cuts, but we were also not favourable in terms of the operations of the budget,' the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Fanie Esterhuizen, explained.
The base year 2025/26 budget allocation of R294 billion includes funding for the Social Relief of Distress grant, which is only allocated for one financial year, explaining the drop in the 2026/27 fiscal year allocation.
A significant budget challenge is that the department had to fund the 5.5% cost-of-living increase for public servants from its existing operational budget, reducing goods and services allocations.
'In the past, three years ago, National Treasury would grant us this amount. But any increases now have to come from our baseline, and the only place we could take it from was from goods and services,' Esterhuizen stated.
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