Nobody turns a SASSA SRD Grant into a fortune overnight. But one KZN-based entrepreneur has turned R370 seed money into a thriving business …
Good-news stories about the SASSA SRD Grant are few and far between. However, a researcher at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) has found something. It all started when Zethembe Mhlongo contacted *The South African *via our social media. He noted in a comment that the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) stipend can be a vital ‘pick up’ when he’s earned no income in the month.
“Guys, the system is brilliant. I am a start-up entrepreneur and when I opened my business last year, I would get R370 if I had no income. This really helped to maintain my internet bill during trying times. I now don’t receive it without contacting them. And I even forget sometimes because I’m too busy about it,” said Mhlongo.
But of the nearly 10-million recipients in South Africa on the SASSA SRD Grant, he’s not the only one. We dug deeper and found other examples of the R370 kickstarting other small entrepreneurial ventures. One Ndumiso Mthalane studied the impact of the grant for his Master’s in Social Sciences at UKZN. Focusing on households in Cato Manor, Durban, he found the grant can have a positive effect on poor households. In some cases, it turned poorly grant recipients from job seekers into job creators.
Better still, Mthalane wasn’t just studying this from the outside. He was a R370 SRD recipient himself at the time, with no other tangible income. He and a friend pooled their grant money and started selling chocolates. “Even though it seemed minor, for us, it was better than nothing. The profit covered groceries, soap and transport, those essentials that keep a household running,” Mthalane said.
Mthalane’s advice is that with the support of government and family, it can be done. Image: File
To his credit, Mthalane didn’t oversell it in his paper. His research found the SRD grant doesn’t fix poverty, unemployment or inequality on its own. What it does is act as a lifeline, particularly for people who fall outside the ‘core’ SASSA social security net. Separate research drawing on household survey data (2008 to 2021) finds that 11% of Child Support Grant beneficiaries are engaged in so-called survival-oriented business activities, too. This is buying and selling goods, sewing, catering and informal trade in spaza/tuck shops.
However, Mthalane’s own story didn’t stop at chocolates. With the help of his family, he has since finished his Master’s degree and is now enrolled in a PhD in the Built Environment and Development Studies. His main goal? To build his mother a proper house one day. His advice to anyone else grinding through a postgraduate degree on grant money and family support is clear: It is doable!
The last round of August 2026 SASSA SRD Grant payments were processed a week ago, between 24 and 26 August. Therefore, the next window is likely to fall between 24 and 26 September, in the final week of the month. Click HERE to confirm your status and/or apply for support this month.
But what do you think? Do you believe R370 is enough to act as seed money for a genuine entrepreneurial venture? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below …
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