Frustrations and 1.5-million applicants left hanging: How Sassa's R350 Covid-19 grant dominated 2021

The reinstatement of the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) R350 social relief distress grant this year came with its share of up and downs.

The grant was reinstated in August, with President Cyril Ramaphosa announcing it will end in March 2022. 

The grant was meant for unemployed citizens and qualifying foreign citizens in distress.

While millions have been paid throught the grant, it has also been the subject of controversy with delays in applications and payments.

Here is a timeline of what transpired this year:

First payment

In August, Sassa kick-started the first batch of the payments of the second phase, telling TimesLIVE it would pay out R2.1bn. 

More than 10 million people applied for the grant and applications continue to stream in through application platforms including the Sassa website and WhatsApp. 

Applicants approved for the grant can receive their payments through the SA Post Office or bank accounts, which is the most preferred method of payment, according to the agency.

Payment rush

By the end of August, the agency was bombarded by beneficiaries who flocked to post offices to collect their payments without receiving an SMS. 

In a plea, Sassa spokesperson Paseka Letsatsi said applicants who did not provide their banking details when applying for the grant should wait for an SMS notifying them about payment collection at post office. 

​“We want to emphasise to applicants that if you did not give us your banking details, please do not go to a post office if you don’t have an SMS from Sassa that states the grant has been approved,” said Letsatsi. 

“If you go to a post office because your neighbour told you they received their SMS, you won’t be assisted.” 

He said the SMS system was intended to avoid glitches and comply with Covid-19 regulations to prevent overcrowding in branches.

Racial profiling allegations

Sassa also hit back at allegations it was racially profiling its applicants. 

This after several applicants alleged minority racial groups were not getting paid, despite being approved every month.

Speaking to TimesLIVE, Letsatsi denied the claims, saying the agency does not profile applicants to disadvantage certain race groups. 

“Sassa does not discriminate against anyone, as the R350 is meant for those who are unemployed,” he said. 

“We view this slanderous allegation in a serious light and urge anyone with such a view to report the matter to the authorities.”

Losing R11m to improperly benefactors

In September, Sassa told the parliamentary select committee on health and social services it had lost about R11m after 31,955 people improperly benefited from the Covid-19 grant, the agency 

Sassa executive for grants administration Dianne Dunkerley told the committee that the agency investigated all beneficiaries after it emerged from a March report by the auditor-general that 67,000 people may have benefited from the grant even though they were not entitled to it, while some were overpaid. 

“There are monthly validations done across all the databases that we have access to. So it doesn’t matter what the previous decision was. In the new month, we will go and validate those against the updated information that we have received to make sure that on a month by month basis, the beneficiaries do in fact qualify for the grant,” Dunkerley said.

Reasons of declining applicants

As many applicants vented their frustrations at allegedly being declined with no explanation, Sassa listed several reasons why applications may be rejected.

The nine reasons included identity verification failure, NSFAS registration, UIF registration and government payroll registration. 

Sassa warned it is the responsibility of every citizen whose financial circumstances change, even while they are receiving the grant, to immediately inform the agency of the change.

Introducing different collection points

To make things easier, Sassa announced in September that beneficiaries can collect their payment from Pick n Pay and Boxer stores nationwide.

The collection points are among several introduced by Sassa to make grant collection easy for beneficiaries. 

Only grant recipients who have received an SMS from SASSA confirming their collection payout point as either Pick n Pay or Boxer can use the collections point. 

SA Post Office (Sapo) said it hopes to expand the pilot project to all supermarkets nationwide. 

Sapo said it was hoping to get other supermarkets, including Spar, on board to enable people from small towns to collect their payments at the store's collection points.

Almost 1.5-million applicants left hanging 

In October, Sassa said almost 1.5-million R350 grant beneficiaries who chose the “cash send” payment option were not paid. 

Speaking to TimesLIVE at the time, Letsatsi said the delay was due to Sassa not finalising a deal with banking institutions. 

Letsatsi said applicants who chose the cardless payment method have not been paid yet because Sassa had to go through a procurement process to use this method with the banks, and National Treasury approval is needed.

“As soon as Treasury approves our request, we will pay every cent owed to this category of beneficiaries without wasted time. We empathise with them but we also have a responsibility to follow the law,” he said.