Vusumuzi Mashila is too old to be hired and too young to be pensioned. The 58-year-old Gauteng man has survived on the SASSA Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant of just R370 a month for more than five years, caught in a gap the system was never built to close. His story has struck a nerve online, with thousands of South Africans saying they know the feeling all too well.
The R370 SRD grant was introduced as a temporary lifeline during Covid-19. Six years on, it is still R370. It has been frozen for the third year in a row, while food, electricity and transport keep climbing.
Stuck between two SASSA systems
Mashila is not lazy. He is not avoiding work. Employers pass him over, again and again. He knows why.
“I run out before the month ends,” he told The South African. It is a sentence that says everything about life on R12 a day.
He owns his home. He supports up to two dependants. He has stopped looking for work because the rejections became too predictable. And the SASSA old age pension, currently R2 400 a month, only kicks in at 60. That is two more birthdays away. The gap between R370 and R2 400 is R2 030. That is the price of being 58 in South Africa.
“The reject age” – readers respond
When The South African posted Mashila’s story on Facebook this week, the comments section turned into a confessional.
“The reject age, most of us suffering the same. Too old and too young,” wrote Phill M Setshegi.
Barnard Sipho Mokoena added that the picture is even bleaker than it looks. “A very painful reality. Some don’t even get the R360,” he said, referring to those whose applications keep getting declined under SASSA’s monthly reassessment system.
One reader summed up the maths in the bluntest terms possible. “I wouldnd even get out of bed for 370 a week. I would rather be broke, depressed and hungry,” wrote a user identified only as gg. Note that figure. A week. Mashila gets it for a month.
What Mashila is actually asking for
His ask is not dramatic. It is not even a cash increase, necessarily.
“I wish the government could increase the SRD amount, or else provide coupons or something like that to buy groceries and electricity,” he said.
The 2026 Budget extended the SRD grant until March 2027 and added R36.4 billion to the pot. But the amount per recipient did not move. Treasury called any further increase “simply unaffordable.” Roughly 8 million people receive the grant each month.
Mashila will turn 60 eventually. The pension will kick in. He will get R2 400 a month instead of R370. He is honest about what that means.
“Old age won’t be enough, but it will be much better than the R370 I’m currently receiving.” That is the entire welfare strategy for tens of thousands of older South Africans right now. Wait. Survive on R370. Hope you make it to 60.
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