Alec Hogg: Cyril’s unaffordable appeasement for looters

There have been some dumb responses to SA's week of shame. Heading the list, however, is Cyril Ramaphosa's suggestion of introducing a basic income grant of R350 a month to "show our people we care". Leaving aside the morality of rewarding bad behaviour, the parlous state of SA's finances shows it's unaffordable. Plus it would accelerate an already depressing race to the economic bottom by ignoring the real issue – job creation.

National Treasury disclosed in the 2021 Budget that SA will pay social grants to 18.5m people this year, rising to 19.25m in two years' time (a third of the total population). This deadly mushroom already costs taxpayers R221 bn. Ramaphosa's basic income grant knee-jerk, reminiscent of Zuma's departing free tertiary education "gift" to taxpayers, would add another R45 bn a year to the base cost. Put differently, social grants would then swallow over half of all personal income tax.

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