The special COVID-19 grant was meant to lapse this month but government has chosen to extend it. A number of civil society organisations have also put pressure on government to extend the benefits.
President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses a joint sitting of Parliament on 15 October 2020. Picture: @PresidencyZA/Twitter
CAPE TOWN – President Cyril Ramaphosa said that the government will be extending the special R350 COVID-19 grant by a further three months.
Ramaphosa made the announcement on Thursday when he delivered his economic recovery plan at a joint sitting of Parliament.
• READ: President Ramaphosa’s economic recovery plan for SA
The plan focused mainly on job creation and other structural reforms in the economy.
President Ramaphosa said that the country needed to do everything it could to provide support for the most needy in society.
The special COVID-19 grant was meant to lapse this month but government has chosen to extend it.
A number of civil society organisations have also put pressure on government to extend the benefits.
The president said that the vulnerable must be protected.
“We need to do everything in our means to support those in society who continue to face hunger and also continue to face distress. It is therefore that we will be extending the special COVID-19 grant by a further three months.”
He made the announcement amid a number of other interventions to restore the country’s economy which has been worsed by COVID19.
These include an employment stimulus as well as a massive infrastructure investment of over R100 billion in the next three years.
“This plan directly responds to the immediate economic impact of COVID-19 by driving job creation and expanding support for vulnerable households.”