The Social Relief of Distress grant has not kept up with increasing food prices. And many beneficiaries do not receive their grants because they have been excluded by the Sassa system.

Maverick Citizen has been tracking the prices of 14 basic food items that a consumer can buy with R370, the amount of the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant.

All consumers are under strain as headline consumer inflation increased to 3.5% in July from 3.0% in June. This is the highest rate since September 2024, when it was 3.8%.

"Household food budgets under pressure -- annual inflation for food & non-alcoholic beverages (NAB) continued to rise, accelerating to 5.7%," said Stats SA on 20 August.

The Household Affordability Index said the average cost of its Household Food Basket in August was R5,380.62. The index tracks the prices of 44 basic foods from 47 supermarkets and 32 butcheries.

Because most low-income households cannot afford this basket, the researchers created a core foods basket. The average cost of the food in this basket in August was R2,869.26 -- an increase of R25.80 from the previous month.

Protein

Snqobile Mchunu (22) uses the SDR grant to add protein to the...