Approved for the R350 grant after reconsideration? You could get your money from Wednesday

22 June 2022 - 08:30
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SA Social Security Agency CEO Busisiwe Memela-Khambula said payment will take up to two days to reflect in the beneficiary's bank account. File photo.
SA Social Security Agency CEO Busisiwe Memela-Khambula said payment will take up to two days to reflect in the beneficiary's bank account. File photo.
Image: SA government via Twitter

Successful applicants who requested their rejected Covid-19 R350 social relief of distress (SRD) grant applications be reconsidered will receive payments from Wednesday. 

The payments are for applicants who appealed their declined applications from August to November 2021.

SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) CEO Busisiwe Memela-Khambula said payment will take up to two days to reflect in the beneficiary's bank account. 

“Payments will start on June 22. In the month of June, we will pay this month's SRD R350 grant. In July, we will start the backlog, starting with April assessments and May's outstanding payment will be paid in August. We expect August to be on track to pay monthly grants beyond this period,” said Memela-Khambula.

How many beneficiaries will be paid?

Memela-Khambula reiterated that millions of approved applicants will be paid their grants by the end of this week.

“The payment process has commenced and having cleared the first four months of backlogs for the reconsideration appeals between August and November, the assessments for new applications has begun,” she said.

How will payments be made?

Payments will be made via bank accounts and beneficiaries are advised not to go to post offices to access their funds. 

Those who selected to receive their funds at SA Post Office branches are requested to visit www.srd.sassa.gov.za and select an option to collect the grants from Checkers, Usave, Shoprite, Pick n Pay and Boxer stores. 

“We appeal to clients to provide Sassa with their bank account details to enable us to pay them into their own accounts. Notifications to update details have also been sent to clients whose reconsideration appeals have been approved, but their bank account details were outstanding,” said Memela-Khambula.

How much is the budget for the grant?

Under the Social Assistance Act, R44bn has been set aside to pay qualifying beneficiaries. 

To achieve this, Sassa said it implemented a means test not only for appeals but for all applicants.

“This requires Sassa to implement a similar process of checking incomes in people’s bank accounts. This was previously only done for those who appealed. We have now implemented this for all Covid-19 SRD grant applications.

“This required an extensive procurement and systems development process, including partnering with some main banks. Due to challenges with setting up this system, we had a backlog, not only with the reconsideration appeals, but also with assessments for new applications from April 2022,” said Sassa.

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