REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA COMBINED SECOND PERIODIC REPORT UNDER THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN AND PEOPLE`S RIGHTS and INITIAL REPORT UNDER THE PROTOCOL TO THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN AFRICA Social Security Agency (SASSA) for rejecting a grant application, may now apply for reconsideration of its SASSA decision. Furthermore, the applicant (or beneficiary) is also able to lodge an appeal to an Independent Tribunal specifically established to deal with social grant appeals. This provides an easier and less expensive remedy for applicants and beneficiaries before resorting to the courts for a remedy. 250 471. In March 2011, Government Notice No. R232 was published in the Government Gazette providing for recipients of Social Relief of Distress not to repay the amount received in any form of social assistance in the event of a disaster. The floods at the end of 2010 left numerous households without food, clothes and possessions. Many of these areas were declared disaster areas and SRD was issued to eligible individuals and households. However, regulation 10(3) required that the SRD paid to social grant beneficiaries must be recovered as a person cannot receive both SRD and a social grant. To avert undue hardship beneficiaries are now exempted from repayment of SRD in the event of a disaster. In an effort to prevent social assistance beneficiaries and more people drowning into poverty, grant values and means test thresholds increase annually in line with the inflation rate. 472. Through the War on Poverty Campaign, the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR), together with other departments, have developed social and economic database of poor households and their members that live in the most deprived municipal wards of the country. The information of household needs that is obtained from this database is then referred to government departments so that the services can be delivered to those poor households. This Campaign also includes coverage of the indigenous communities such as those in Riemvasmaak in the Northern Cape, where a trust was established to drive the development agenda of the entire community. Farms bought through this mechanism have entered into a partnership with a private entity for enhancing management of the community and raising productivity. 473. South Africa has continuously taken measures to ensure the economic, social and cultural development of its people. In particular, a comprehensive approach has been adopted to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. The anti-poverty approach combines income support (through the grant system) with a social wage package that includes clinic-based free primary health care for all, compulsory education for all those aged seven to fifteen years (or the 9th grade, whichever occurs first)250 and provision of subsidised housing, electricity, water, sanitation, refuse removal, and transportation. 474. The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) Food Security and Rural Development Programme provides agricultural starter packs and food production information packs to food insecure rural households. The Department of Social Development Poverty Relief Programme provides support for rural community food gardens and income generating projects. 475. With each passing year, South Africa has seen visible improvements in the life circumstances of its citizens. The Millennium Development Goals Country Report 2013 S 3 of the South African Schools Act, 1996 (Act No. 84 of 1996) 130