Browsing by Author "Maluleke, Mikateko"
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- ItemThe role of the social relief of distress (SRD) in reducing food insecurity: a budget analysis of the resource allocation and expenditure of SRD fund in Western Cape, South Africa(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-04) Maluleke, Mikateko; Kushitor, Sandra; Smit, Yolande; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of AgriSciences. Dept. of Food Science.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Food insecurity remains a major concern and a priority in South Africa. Various policies have been implemented to reduce food insecurity, and these include the provision of social grants in the form of cash transfers. Supplementing these cash transfers, the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) programme is intended for temporary use to reduce acute food insecurity. However, the programme has a history of being grossly underutilised and not reaching vulnerable groups. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to analyse the resource allocation and expenditure of SRD funds in the Western Cape Department of Social Development (WC DSD) over a five-year period, 2014 to 2019. Methods: A descriptive, quantitative analysis was conducted of DSD annual reports between 2014 and 2019. The reports were collected from the national DSD website and the province’s DSD website. RESULTS: The SRD programme receives less budget funds than all the other social welfare programmes. The Western Cape DSD utilises most of its allocated budget for SRD programmes for the compensation of workers and for transfers to NGOs. Positive deviations occurred in 2016/2017, 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 from the targets of 16.8 per cent, 36.5 per cent and 46.6 per cent respectively, with the department assessing and referring more cases than targeted to the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) for SRD grants. CONCLUSION: The SRD programme in the Western Cape contributes to reducing temporary food insecurity by assessing and referring vulnerable households suffering from undue hardships and disasters to SASSA for the SRD grant. The SRD grant is provided in the form of food vouchers or food parcels, which increase households’ food baskets in times of shock. However, practices can be improved, such as the keeping of comprehensive statistics to better monitor implementation of the programme and its impact on food security.