A coalition of civil society groups has criticised the National Treasury's suggestion that VAT needs to increase or spending on crucial services must be cut if it is to fund an extension of the Social Relief of Distress grant.

The Universal Basic Income Coalition (Ubic) says that it is "deeply concerned at the National Treasury's ongoing attempts to pit the interests of vulnerable constituencies against each other and to manufacture a sense of panic around a 'fiscal cliff', in order to drive through unnecessary and deadly cuts to social spending".

"In particular, we reject Treasury's threats to raise VAT or cut essential spending on the Child Support Grant or other public services, in order to preserve the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant."

This was in response to the Treasury's proposals to fund an extension of the SRD grant through regressive tax increases and budget cuts in a cost-containment letter issued to government departments on 31 August.

The coalition comprises the following civil society organisations: #PayTheGrants, Alternative Information and Development Centre, Black Sash, Children's Institute, University of Cape Town, Institute for Economic Justice, RightfulShare An Income Movement, Social Policy Initiative and Youth Lab.

Dr Gilad Isaacs, an economist and co-founder of the Institute for Economic Justice, said: "Generating a sense of crisis in the lead-up to the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) in [November], primes the public to swallow yet more deadly, unnecessary and unconscionable spending cuts without question....