More people live off grants than salaries - with millions of applicants still waiting

Those depending on some form of financial assistance from government now far outnumber those in the country who are employed, data shows. 

Dr Francois Stofberg, senior economist at Efficient Group, estimates 19 million are currently living off grants, and taking into account the additional 1.5 million people who lost jobs because of Covid-19, this should bring total grant recipients to about 20.5 million.

But even according to official data, employment figures - as recorded for the second quarter of the year - state that there were 14.9 million people employed and 7.8 million jobless.