SASSA applicants may be able to apply for grants without leaving home

While COVID-19 has disrupted much of society in countless negative ways, it has also paved the way for new processes such as online social grant applications. Minister of Social Development (DSD) Lindiwe Zulu, on Friday 11 December, said the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) is currently piloting the automation of grant applications. 

“COVID-19 has sparked considerable shift and has opened a new era digitising our services,” said Zulu. 

SASSA PILOTING AUTOMATION OF SOCIAL GRANTS 

The automation of SASSA social grants will enable applicants to apply online without leaving the comfort of their own homes. 

The initial pilot is limited to applications for grants for older persons, foster child grants and child support grants, with the disability related grants being added at a later stage, once the necessary links with the medical assessments have been resolved.

“The pilot commenced in September and has been running for a period of three months with checks and balances consistently being built into the system to ensure first and foremost, the protection of personal information,” said Zulu. 

“This is the first of many initiatives in the pipeline. It is important that we do not forget the key lessons we have learnt as we adapt to the ‘new normal,” she added. 

R13.5 BILLION IN R350 GRANTS DISBURSED 

With regard to the Special COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant, a total of R13.5 billion has been disbursed to more than six million eligible SASSA beneficiaries. 

“Of the 9.5 million applications processed in November, over 6.9 million applications were approved and already paid. We are currently processing applications for December and we intend to process payments before the last week of this month,” said Zulu. 

“Of these payments, SAPO accounts for 4 million, 1,6 million are paid through personal accounts and 100 000 through the mobile money/ cash send platforms,” she added. 

There is also still a relatively small number of applications approved but not yet paid for the period between May and October, according to Zulu.  

“This is due to a number of issues, including information verification/ 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 remaining 1% of the outstanding applications will be processed for payment as soon as we have completed the verification,” she added.