Sassa to reopen its doors on Monday

The SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) in Gauteng was expected to reopen its doors for the first time since the start of the nationwide lockdown on Monday. 

This is according to spokesperson, Paseka Letsatsi, who said limited services would be offered. 

“Only a third of employees will return to work so Sassa services on offer will be limited. The numbers of clients served at local offices will be very limited to ensure social distancing and general compliance with the laws,” he said in a statement. 

The agency said local offices would attend to specific grants queries on specific days only to ensure compliance with the laws. 

“Monday and Tuesday are for grants for older persons (old age grants), Wednesday and Thursday are for child support grants and foster child grants are attended to on Friday. 

“No disability grants, care dependency grants or grant in aid applications will be done as access to health facilities is restricted to emergency cases and Covid-19 cases only,” said Letsatsi. 

He said no medical assessments, which are a legislated requirement prior to disability and care dependency grants being authorised, would be processed. 

Social development minister Lindiwe Zulu was expected to hold a media briefing to detail, among other things, the logistics of the R350 social relief distress grant for the unemployed. 

The agency on Sunday announced its readiness for the implementation of the grant for six months, but said no manual applications would be made at its offices.

Letsatsi said electronic applications, including the use of WhatsApp, would go live on Monday and the application process would be demonstrated by  Zulu.

“Sassa has been inundated with inquiries from the public about the process of application. The public must be thanked for its patience during these difficult times,” said Letsatsi.

The agency said applicants without smartphones would be able to access this new platform through a short message service (SMS) using the Unstructured Supplementary Data Service.