SASSA R350 GRANT REJECTED

Photo: GCIS

R350 Grant unpacked: How many applications have SASSA rejected?

Almost seven million people received the R350 grant in November – but there has also been a large number of rejections dished out by SASSA.

SASSA R350 GRANT REJECTED

Photo: GCIS

Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu presented a treasure trove of data on the R350 grant earlier today, revealing the true cost of SASSA’s popular ‘relief funds’. The payment was introduced at the beginning of the pandemic, to help citizens who are not entitled to any other form of social support.

How many people have SASSA rejected?

Despite a raft of administrative problems, the R350 grant has been a lifeline for almost seven million South Africans. There is talk of the scheme being expanded in 2021 to become a ‘Basic Income Grant’, but the government’s purse-strings may not be able to take the strain for much longer – and the cost breakdown goes a long way towards explaining why.

Zulu also made it public how many applicants for the SRD had been rejected – and stated that ‘around 1% of payments’ still needed to be made from as far back as May. The department has also been plagued by fraudulent applications.

SASSA R350 grant: How many people have been paid, who is still waiting, and what has it all cost?

  • An amount of R13.5 billion has been disbursed through the special COVID-19 R350 grant.
  • Of the 9.5 million applications processed in November, over 6.9 million were approved and paid.
  • There are 40 584 unclaimed benefits – mainly from the cash send or mobile payment option.
  • Who got rejected? Well, exactly 6 712 482 people were found to be already receiving social grants, while 605 466 were registered for the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) – meanwhile, 168 920 were receiving funding from NSFAS.
  • There were even some applications from ‘beyond the grave’ – thanks to 8 000 benefit fraudsters…

“Of major concern is that over 8 000 applicants were found to be using the personal particulars of deceased persons. This is not only illegal, but criminal. Thanks to our investment in fraud prevention and detection, we are now able to act speedily to deal with suspicious cases and fight fraud by working with other government entities and law enforcement agencies,” 

Lindiwe Zulu

Thousands report ‘delays’ in SRD payments

Minister Zulu provided the following explanations to those who are still waiting on their R350 grant payments:

“The remaining number of outstanding applications will be processed for payment as soon as we’ve completed verification. This is due to a number of issues, including information verification and banking details verification, while in other cases, SASSA is struggling to locate the applicants, as the contact numbers used during applications are no longer in use.”

“The majority of applicants who opted for this payment channel have failed the cell phone verification process and this raises questions regarding compliance with RICA (SIM card registration) requirements. We have tried to reach out to applicants, with very little success.”

Lindiwe Zulu