Sassa receives 12-million applications for R350 grant after threshold increase
Image: SA government via Twitter
The SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) has assured beneficiaries of the R350 social relief of distress grant that more people will receive payment after the means test threshold was increased to R624.
Social development minister Lindiwe Zulu this month gazetted the regulation to increase the income threshold, to the food poverty line set by Stats SA in September 2021.
This means anyone with a monthly income of more than R624 a month will not qualify for the grant.
The increase has received mixed reviews, with many saying it should be higher.
The Institute for Economic Justice told 702 the test should be at least R1,335, government’s measure of the upper-bound poverty line.
More people to receive grant
According to Sassa, the low number of approved applications for the R350 compared with previous iterations “was a cause for concern” for it and the social development department.
“There has also been public outcry regarding some of the regulations, which were deemed to be unlawful and to unfairly exclude some potential applicants,” the agency said in a statement.
“Sassa welcomes the new development and the agency is hopeful that a greater number of qualifying applicants will now have access to this grant.”
12-million applications for August
Sassa said it received just less than 12-million applications at the beginning of August after the increase.
The agency said it experienced slight delays and challenges with assessments for July owing to previous regulations requiring people to reconfirm their grants every three months.
“Consequently, few people reconfirmed their grants, but since the new regulations have been published, the July assessments will soon be concluded,” said Sassa.
Zulu reiterated that Sassa is still dealing with payment challenges as some applicants have not submitted bank details.
“We encourage all applicants to provide us with their correct bank details so we can timeously facilitate their grant payments,” said Zulu.
TimesLIVE
Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.