THE claim that social grants and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) will be cancelled if the ANC loses power, is a lie.
This was said by Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) president Velenkosini Hlabisa on Wednesday, 10 January.
He said this was being done to scare the people of Mzansi into voting in favour of the ruling party.
"In a rather desperate attempt at scaremongering, the president of the ruling party has claimed that social grants will not be cancelled if anyone other than the ANC comes to power. This is untrue," Hlabisa said.
He said the problem with the ANC is that it sees a good idea but has no idea how to realise it, and yet continues with promises and bad policies that can only undermine the idea in the long run.
Hlabisa said a party as old as the ANC lacked a long-term vision.
"It's almost as if they don’t expect to be in power "until Jesus returns", as former president Zuma declared. They are happy to let the next generation fail while the current generation is hailed as heroes," said Hlabisa.
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He said social grants have always been a necessary lifeline for millions of Mzansi.
"They are meant to help those living in poverty to survive. But since the first social grant was issued, the number of impoverished families has increased year after year so that after 30 years of democracy, almost half of our country's population depends on social grants," he said.
President Cyril Ramaphisa reportedly said this during a cake-cutting ceremony to mark the 112th anniversary of the ANC in Mbombela, Mpumalanga on Monday, 8 January.
Hlabisa said it was tragic that Mzansi’s economy was stagnating under the ANC and billions were being lost through disinvestment as the disastrous mismanagement of state-owned enterprises and burgeoning corruption scared off investors.
"In the last eight years, the JSE has recorded a loss of R990 billion because foreign investors are getting rid of their stocks in the South African market. In 2023 alone, we lost R155 billion.
"This is very worrying, especially because year after year in his State of the Nation Address, the president states that government will fund its programmes through more foreign investment," he said.
He said the government was relying on a shrinking pool of resources to fund a growing pool of needs and the math was not adding up.
"The IFP is concerned about the huge safety net of social grants that exists in South Africa – not that it should be withdrawn, but that it will inevitably collapse if it continues under government's current misguided formula," Hlabisa said.
