Regulations limiting the access to the R370-a-month Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant are unconstitutional and invalid, the high court in Pretoria ruled on Thursday. The court also ordered the government to increase the grant amount and the income threshold to qualify for it. Introduced in 2020 as an emergency response to the Covid pandemic, the SRD grant was initially set to last six months but has been extended annually. The value of the grant was raised from R350 to R370 in April 2024. Thabiso Tema spoke with Siyanda Baduza, Basic Income Researcher at the Institute For Economic Justice.