South Africa: SRD Grant Battle Reaches Supreme Court of Appeal As State Challenges Historic Judgment

By Lillian Roberts

The Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) and #PayTheGrants, represented by the Socio-Economic Rights Institute, highlighted a 'broken' system characterised by a 33% database error rate (wrongful exclusion) and a 99% appeal rejection rate. They argued that these metrics serve as a 'massive red flag' indicating systemic failure.

In January last year, the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Pretoria handed down a judgment that found that the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant system was unlawfully designed in that it excluded millions of otherwise eligible applicants.

On 25 August 2026, the State appealed against that high court judgment in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein.

In the high court, last year the Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) and #PayTheGrants, represented by the Socio-Economic Rights Institute (Seri), brought the case against the minister of social development and the South African Social Security Agency.

The high court had found the system of online-only application, flawed bank verification and database checks, restrictive income assessments and an appeals process that repeats the same problematic verification mechanisms, to be unlawful and unconstitutional.

SOCIAL (IN)SECURITY Sassa grant reviews strand vulnerable South Africans in systemic chaos August 24, 2026 The case also dealt with the adequacy of the SRD grant and the income threshold used to determine eligibility. The food poverty line stands at R855, and the grant remains at R370 a month, while the income threshold stands at R624 a month, despite inflation.

The applicants had...

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