Exclusion by Design: Socio-Technical Friction, Digital Barriers, and the Lived Financial Realities of R350 SRD Grant Beneficiaries

The COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Grant, introduced in South Africa as an emergency response to the pandemic socio-economic hardship, has evolved into a critical yet intensely contested social protection measure. Grounded in the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach, this study explores the grant’s impact on livelihoods, systemic access barriers, and beneficiary perspectives on its proposed termination. Employing a qualitative design, the study utilised purposive sampling to conduct interviews with 20 SRD beneficiaries. Findings demonstrate that despite its low monetary value, the grant offered a crucial economic lifeline for food and essential household needs. Crucially, the data refutes the dependency myth, revealing that recipients actively leveraged the funds to exercise economic agency, cover job-seeking costs, and invest in micro-enterprises. Significantly, this study contributes to contemporary literature by unmasking how the state’s entirely digitalized application ecosystem breeds structural digital exclusion among vulnerable populations. Systemic hurdles, including the digital divide, institutional corruption, and rigid automated means-testing that misinterprets casual familial remittances as alternative income, facilitate severe administrative exclusion. Furthermore, beneficiaries expressed profound anxiety regarding the grant’s potential termination, warning that removing this safety net without viable employment alternatives would trigger widespread destitution and social instability. Consequently, beneficiaries advocated for retaining the grant and transitioning it into a permanent Basic Income Guarantee. Ultimately, the study underscores the urgent necessity for a more digitally inclusive and transformative social protection framework tailored to the structural realities of South African unemployment and poverty.