Minister Godongwana tells MPs government has no basic income grant policy

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said that the government had no basic income grant policy.

Gondongwana said that the government was still focusing on the temporary social relief grant introduced to offset the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The minister was responding to questions from MPs in Parliament on Thursday following his medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS).

The finance minister faced several calls from opposition parties to introduce a permanent basic income grant to replace the R350 temporary solution.

They say the grant should be just over R600 for the more than 10 million unemployed.

But Godongwana said that the government had no such policy.

“The first broad issue I want to deal with is the basic income grant issue. As things stand, there is no such policy by the executive on a basic income grant. What we are dealing with is a temporary grant which was intended to support the vulnerable during the COVID period.”

Godongwana also addressed the issue of Eskom, saying that the government taking over a significant portion of the company’s debt would come with strict conditions.

The minister’s medium-term budget was largely rejected by most parties, who said that it failed to address issues of unemployment and the high cost of living.

-EWN

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