{"id":1352,"date":"2020-04-29T09:58:23","date_gmt":"2020-04-29T09:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.highveldchronicle.co.za\/wp64\/?p=1352"},"modified":"2020-08-09T22:01:35","modified_gmt":"2020-08-09T22:01:35","slug":"social-grants-not-a-productive-way-to-stimulate-the-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.highveldchronicle.co.za\/wp64\/social-grants-not-a-productive-way-to-stimulate-the-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Social grants not a productive way to stimulate the economy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LUCAS  SHONGWE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s move to increase social grants as temporary social relief measures amid the Covid-19 pandemic may not salvage the country’s ailing economy, the paper has learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramaphosa broadened smiles for many South Africans, especially those struggling to make ends meet, when he announced an extra R300 increase for child support grant in May and an additional R500 each month from June to October. He also put an extra R250 per month for the next six months for all other grants, plus a special Covid-19 social relief of distress grant of R350 a month for the next 6 months for the unemployed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Political analyst and author of the book When Zuma Goes<\/em>, Dr Ralph Mathekga said, \u201cThe lockdown means that the economy is not functioning normally. That puts pressure how long you can go with the lockdown. The reality is that the economy is depressed and people are depressed; they need something to live by injecting cash in their pockets. For me, it is the most practical thing to do,\u201d Dr Mathekga said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor of Political Science at the University of South Africa (UNISA), Dr Somadoda Fikeni told the Highveld Chronicle <\/em>it would be ingenious to invest on infrustructure grant to stimulate the economy. \u201cSocial grant is not a productive sector,\u201d Dr Fikeni argued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is better when you inject such funds to stimulate the economy rather than injecting such funds and double them for social grant,\u201d he said. \u201cFor a stimulus such as the infrastructure grant, you know you will create jobs, and it will help you grow the economy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has welcomed the increases, they reiterated their demand to make the social grants increases and the introduction of basic income for the unemployed permanent. \u201cThe old age grant must never be reduced and must instead be increased to R2800 per month. The child support grant must not be reduced but must be increased and left at R800 per month. The basic income grant must not be reversed and must instead be increased to R1000 per month,\u201d party leader, Julius Malema, said during a virtual rally on Freedom day, 27 April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Dr Fikeni said it may seem impractical to sustain the social grants after the Covid-19 span. \u201cI don\u2019t see it being sustained beyond that precisely because-even if ideologically the people wanted-the country has gone bankrupt in many ways so it has to work itself back. It can\u2019t be seen to be increasing the bill on recurring basis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LUCAS  SHONGWE President Cyril Ramaphosa’s move to increase social grants as temporary social relief measures amid the Covid-19 pandemic may not salvage the country’s ailing economy, the paper has learned. Ramaphosa broadened smiles for many South Africans, especially those struggling to make ends meet, when he announced an extra R300 increase for child support grant…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tie-news-style","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nSocial grants not a productive way to stimulate the economy - Highveld Chronicle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dev.highveldchronicle.co.za\/wp64\/social-grants-not-a-productive-way-to-stimulate-the-economy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Social grants not a productive way to stimulate the economy - Highveld Chronicle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LUCAS  SHONGWE President Cyril Ramaphosa’s move to increase social grants as temporary social relief measures amid the Covid-19 pandemic may not salvage the country’s ailing economy, the paper has learned. Ramaphosa broadened smiles for many South Africans, especially those struggling to make ends meet, when he announced an extra R300 increase for child support grant...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dev.highveldchronicle.co.za\/wp64\/social-grants-not-a-productive-way-to-stimulate-the-economy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Highveld Chronicle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-29T09:58:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-08-09T22:01:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dev.highveldchronicle.co.za\/wp64\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Somadoda-Fikeni.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"326\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"310\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lucas Shongwe\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lucas Shongwe\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.highveldchronicle.co.za\/wp64\/social-grants-not-a-productive-way-to-stimulate-the-economy\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.highveldchronicle.co.za\/wp64\/social-grants-not-a-productive-way-to-stimulate-the-economy\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lucas Shongwe\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.highveldchronicle.co.za\/wp64\/#\/schema\/person\/a75cc1a01a15975d7502186c60cb42fd\"},\"headline\":\"Social grants not a productive way to stimulate the economy\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-29T09:58:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-09T22:01:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.highveldchronicle.co.za\/wp64\/social-grants-not-a-productive-way-to-stimulate-the-economy\/\"},\"wordCount\":435,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.highveldchronicle.co.za\/wp64\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.highveldchronicle.co.za\/wp64\/social-grants-not-a-productive-way-to-stimulate-the-economy\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dev.highveldchronicle.co.za\/wp64\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Somadoda-Fikeni.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\",\"Opinion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dev.highveldchronicle.co.za\/wp64\/social-grants-not-a-productive-way-to-stimulate-the-economy\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.highveldchronicle.co.za\/wp64\/social-grants-not-a-productive-way-to-stimulate-the-economy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dev.highveldchronicle.co.za\/wp64\/social-grants-not-a-productive-way-to-stimulate-the-economy\/\",\"name\":\"Social grants not a productive way to stimulate the economy - 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