Minister Enoch Godongwana
The Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant – widely known as the R350 grant – will see an increment to R370 starting April, announced Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana in the National Assembly.

Addressing members of parliament on Wednesday, Minister Godongwana echoed the President’s commitment to improving the existing grant, “His Excellency, the President, in his State of the Nation Address, said that the [SRD grant] is going to continue, and the R350 will be improved. My colleague, the Minister of Social Development, is going to publish for comments a comprehensive social security programme and that… will define a better platform and a future for the social security net in South Africa.”
The Finance Minister expressed his contentment towards reaching a consensus on the interim raise pending a more extensive social security overhaul: “I am pleased to say that we have found consensus that in between, subject to the finalisation of the comprehensive social security [programme], we’ll increase the R350 to R370 by the 1st of April this year. That is part of the progressive realisation of the basic rights of our people,” Godongwana affirmed.
The increase announcement is part of a broader strategy outlined in the Budget Speech delivered by Godongwana in February, where social grants are set for gradual increases into 2024.
In the detailed breakdown, pensioners, war veterans, individuals with disabilities, and those with care dependency grants are to receive an additional R100 – R90 from April and a further R10 from October. Meanwhile, the foster care grant will receive a R50 increase, and a R20 augmentation is earmarked for the child support grant.
Recognizing the pressures faced by nearly 19 million South Africans who depend on these grants, Godongwana conceded, “We are sensitive to the increase in the cost of living for the nearly 19 million South Africans who rely on these grants to make ends meet. In this regard, we have done as much as the fiscal envelope allows.”