For 2024 SASSA grant beneficiaries, you’d imagine that social-welfare policy would be a huge decider in who to vote for at the 29 May poll. Now, with the final vote all but finalised (98% complete at the time of writing), it’s clear that Mzansi’s 24-million 2024 SASSA grant beneficiaries have turned their backs on the ANC. During his electioneering, President Cyril Ramaphosa cautioned 2024 SASSA grant beneficiaries against straying away from the ANC.
He insisted that the ANC’s ‘pro-poor policies’ were amongst the best in Africa and were helping alleviate poverty. However, based on the startling election results so far, which sees just over 6-million votes (40.2%) going to the ruling party , it’s clear that 2024 SASSA grant beneficiaries see things very differently.
2024 SASSA GRANT BENEFICIARIES In the run-up to the General Elections, TimesLive via The Conversation posed the question of whether social grants would guarantee votes for the ANC. And don’t forget the sudden grant increases in April which many saw as a sort of vote buying from the ANC. Nevertheless, Leila Patel, a professor of social development studies and Yolanda Sadie, an emeritus professor in politics at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) studied the question.
By studying voter behaviour since 2017, using a nationally representative sample across five surveys till 2023, the academics found that, “receiving a government grant did not influence a voters’ choice of which party to vote for.”.
