LISTEN | People started own businesses with R350 grant, says Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa says some people started their own businesses with the R350 social relief grant they get from the government.

Listen to Ramaphosa:

He was speaking in parliament on Thursday in response to the Sona debate after his address last week. He told MPs how the grant saved people from poverty. The president was explaining how his government “over the past five years has been reducing poverty and inequality”.

Ramaphosa said through the grant system his administration has been able to reduce poverty inherited from apartheid and colonialism.

The president did not give examples of the people who started their own businesses with the grants. 

About 47% of citizens (28-million) receive social grants, which are central in the governing ANC's approach to tackling poverty.

The SRD grant was introduced during the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, which laid bare South Africa’s state of poverty. It has not been increased since but has been extended to March 2025.

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