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BusinessTech reports that labour federation Cosatu has welcomed the extension of government’s R350 Covid-19 unemployment grant, but says that the funding should be extended into a more permanent form of support.
In a national address on Wednesday evening, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the special Covid-19 grant would be extended for a further three months, until January 2021. This would provide much-needed income to around six million people who were unemployed and did not receive any other form of government grant, the president said. However, Cosatu said that this grant should be extended – echoing previous calls for a permanent basic income grant in South Africa. “We welcome the extension of the R350 long term unemployment grant. But this should be extended beyond January and form the basis for a basic income grant,” the trade federation stated. The ANC has previously indicated that it would also look at the feasibility of introducing a basic income grant as part of a series of outcomes decided upon by its National Executive Committee (NEC). However, there are concerns that a permanent grant will have a significant impact on the country’s already strained fiscus.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard at BusinessTech
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