According to three months of spending patterns collated by Net1 CPS, which distributes the payouts, Shoprite made a combined R2.1-billion from South African Social Security Agency card purchases in October, November and December.
"The average transactions per month are 1.53million," said Shoprite spokeswoman Sarita van Wyk. "Some 19million grants were paid out by the Shoprite Group in its financial year to June 2016."
Woolworths made almost R6-million from payments made with Sassa debit cards over these three months.
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The chain store's best month was October, when it made R2.1-million.
The figures are taken from card swipes only and do not take into account Sassa money withdrawn from ATMs or from the retailers and spent.
Other big brands featured on the list of top20 shops where grant recipients swipe their cards include KFC, which in three months made R2.7-million, and Liquor City, which made just over R600,000.
But the trends show that even though people traditionally spend money in December, card swipes and money made by retailers dropped slightly that month.
The Social Development Department has started a drive to ensure that "money is left in the communities" instead of going to big businesses.
In Sassa's request for information to companies that can take over the payment system of grants, it makes it clear that employment and the empowerment of the local economy are vital.
"Exploring new alternative payment modalities suitable for rural and other alternative locations that will empower the SMMEs (small, medium and micro-sized enterprises) and job creation at the local level," reads the document.
Social development spokesman Lumka Oliphant said Sassa was looking for "a beneficiary-centred system that will improve economic activity where beneficiaries live and receive their social grants".
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