IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/vrs/hjobpa/v13y2022i2p93-101n3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Government’s Covid-19 Social Grant in South Africa: A Synopsis of the Effect on Recipients

Author

Listed:
  • Mokoena Sipho

    (University of Limpopo, Graduate School of Leadership, Edu-Park, Webster Street 0699, Polokwane, South Africa)

  • Ngwakwe Collins

    (University of Limpopo, Graduate School of Leadership, Edu-Park, Webster Street 0699, Polokwane, South Africa)

Abstract

This paper presents a synopsis of recipients’ benefits from the South African COVID-19 social relief fund. The objective of the paper is to evaluate the key benefit of the COVID-19 special grant and if the Grant had a positive impact in the lives of recipients and their family members. The paper applied a mix of succinct review and thematic analysis. Secondary data collection was from the archive of survey questionnaires conducted by the Department of Social Development. Findings from the thematic graphical analysis of the recipients’ responses show that more than 93% of the COVID grant recipients used the fund for food. Furthermore, over 88% avowed that the grant had a positive impact in their lives and over 79% of the grant recipients indicated that the fund had a positive impact in the lives of their family members. The findings offer practical and policy implication for government’s social security agency. The recipients’ acceptance of positive benefit regarding food and overall effect on wellbeing is an indication that extension of the COVID-19 social relief fund or conversion thereof to unemployment security assistance might have the propensity to provide relief from poverty and hunger to recipients and improve social wellbeing. The paper highlights the imperative for further research to expand this analysis by using other countries for a comparative analysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Mokoena Sipho & Ngwakwe Collins, 2022. "Government’s Covid-19 Social Grant in South Africa: A Synopsis of the Effect on Recipients," HOLISTICA – Journal of Business and Public Administration, Sciendo, vol. 13(2), pages 93-101, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:vrs:hjobpa:v:13:y:2022:i:2:p:93-101:n:3
    DOI: 10.2478/hjbpa-2022-0017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.2478/hjbpa-2022-0017
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2478/hjbpa-2022-0017?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Haroon Bhorat & Morné Oosthuizen & Ben Stanwix, 2021. "Social Assistance Amidst the COVID‐19 Epidemic in South Africa: A Policy Assessment," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 89(1), pages 63-81, March.
    2. Dalal, Jyotirmoy, 2022. "Food donation management under supply and demand uncertainties in COVID-19: A robust optimization approach," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 82(PA).
    3. Khan, Syed Abdul Rehman & Razzaq, Asif & Yu, Zhang & Shah, Adeel & Sharif, Arshian & Janjua, Laeeq, 2022. "Disruption in food supply chain and undernourishment challenges: An empirical study in the context of Asian countries," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 82(PA).
    4. Youcef Ghellab & Nancy Varela & John Woodall, 2011. "Social dialogue and social security governance: A topical ILO perspective," International Social Security Review, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(4), pages 39-56, October.
    5. Christopher Ansell & Eva Sørensen & Jacob Torfing, 2021. "The COVID-19 pandemic as a game changer for public administration and leadership? The need for robust governance responses to turbulent problems," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(7), pages 949-960, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rosell, Jordi, 2023. "Did governments neglect the environment during the COVID-19 pandemic? An empirical analysis of green public procurement," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 835-849.
    2. Sungjoo Choi & Soonae Park, 2023. "Governmental Transformation in the Era of the Post Pandemic: Analyzing the Impacts of the Pandemic on Organizational Cultural Change in Government," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 451-467, June.
    3. Gedion Onyango, 2024. "The Post-COVID-19 Economic Recovery, Government Performance and Lived Poverty Conditions in Kenya," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 369-387, March.
    4. Köhler, Timothy & Bhorat, Haroon & Hill, Robert & Stanwix, Benjamin, 2023. "Lockdown stringency and employment formality: evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 57, pages 1-3.
    5. Xu Zhao & Hengxing Xiang & Feifei Zhao, 2023. "Measurement and Spatial Differentiation of Farmers’ Livelihood Resilience Under the COVID-19 Epidemic Outbreak in Rural China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 166(2), pages 239-267, April.
    6. Chloe Allison & Neryvia Pillay, 2024. "Cash transfers and prices what is the impact of social welfare on prices," Working Papers 11057, South African Reserve Bank.
    7. Michael O’Donnell & Sue Williamson & Michael Johnson, 2022. "Introduction to the Themed collection: Public sector employment relations in turbulent times," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 33(1), pages 12-17, March.
    8. Haroon BHORAT & Timothy KÖHLER & David de VILLIERS, 2023. "Can Cash Transfers to the Unemployed Support Economic Activity? Evidence from South Africa," Working Paper 4968cbec-99ab-4279-a6d8-2, Agence française de développement.
    9. Jonas Lund-Tønnesen & Tom Christensen, 2023. "Learning from the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications from Governance Capacity and Legitimacy," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 431-449, June.
    10. Akkerman, Renzo & Buisman, Marjolein & Cruijssen, Frans & de Leeuw, Sander & Haijema, Rene, 2023. "Dealing with donations: Supply chain management challenges for food banks," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    11. Ron Hodges & Eugenio Caperchione & Jan Helden & Christoph Reichard & Daniela Sorrentino, 2022. "The Role of Scientific Expertise in COVID-19 Policy-making: Evidence from Four European Countries," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 249-267, June.
    12. Margaret Chitiga & Martin Henseler & Ramos Emmanuel Mabugu & Hélène Maisonnave, 2022. "How COVID-19 Pandemic Worsens the Economic Situation of Women in South Africa," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(3), pages 1627-1644, June.
    13. Tim Köhler & Haroon Bhorat, 2021. "Can cash transfers aid labour market recovery? Evidence from South Africa’s special COVID-19 grant," Working Papers 202108, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.
    14. Van, Huong Vu & Van Dao, Le & Hoang, Lich Khac & Van Hien, Ngo, 2023. "The efficiency of government finanical expenditures before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-country investigation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    15. Karol Król & Anita Kukulska-Kozieł & Katarzyna Cegielska & Tomasz Salata & Józef Hernik, 2023. "Turbulent Events Effects: Socioeconomic Changes in Southern Poland as Captured by the LSED Index," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-24, December.
    16. Bernhard Hirsch & Fabienne-Sophie Schäfer & Aleksander Aristovnik & Polonca Kovač & Dejan Ravšelj, 2023. "The impact of Digitalized Communication on the effectiveness of Local Administrative Authorities – Findings from Central European Countries in the COVID-19 Crisis," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 93(1), pages 173-192, January.
    17. Andrew Phiri & Chuma Mbaleki & Christian Nsiah, 2022. "Fiscal expenditures, revenues and labour productivity in South Africa," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 2062912-206, December.
    18. Stefania Ravazzi, 2023. "Beyond plans, governance structures, and organizational strategies: how emotional mechanisms can make a difference in emergency response processes," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 56(3), pages 499-523, September.
    19. Grace Bridgman & Servaas van der Berg & Leila Patel, 2020. "Hunger in South Africa during 2020: Results from Wave 2 of NIDS-CRAM," Working Papers 25/2020, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    20. Maura Campra & Paolo Esposito & Valerio Brescia, 2021. "State of the Art of COVID-19 and Business, Management, and Accounting Sector. A Bibliometrix Analysis," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 16(1), pages 1-35, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:vrs:hjobpa:v:13:y:2022:i:2:p:93-101:n:3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.sciendo.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.