There are too many people suffering from poverty in South Africa, and the quickest way to eliminate it is to provide income for all adult citizens (18+). If each of these 30 million individuals earned R500/week ($1 is about R10), that would cost R780 billion. Compare that to the R900 billion that SARS expects to make in 2013/2014 tax year.

Sources of funding

We will gain R140 billion by stopping the following:

• social grants (R120 billion)
• RDP (R10 billion)
• NSFAS (R5 billion)
• NSNP (R5 billion)

We will gain an additional R450 billion by doubling the following:

• Income tax (R300 billion)
• Company Income Tax (R150 billion)

After all that, we are left with a shortfall of R190 billion. Where does it come from?

• Settling for R375 per week makes the problem go away
• Settling for R280 per week means Company Income Tax need not be doubled, to avoid companies running away from the country. But that's now lower than Old Age Grant, so we'll stop there as the worst compromise.

Why R500

This gets a person with a dependent:

• a room to live in, with access to running water and electricity
• transport and cellphone costs
• groceries