THE South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) is in receipt of numerous grievances with regard to declined R350 grant applications.
According to a statement released by the agency, some applications had been declined as they did not meet the criteria.
In order to qualify for the Covid-19 grant, applicants must be either unemployed without any kind of income, or not receiving any kind of government assistance such as UIF and NSFAS or social grants. Applicants should also not receive any other financial support and must be above the age of 18.
The statement reads that the majority of declined applications are from people already on the UIF database or qualifying to receive it. In this case the applicants are advised to contact the Department of Employment and Labour to either apply for UIF or follow up with their applications.
“SASSA verifies all applications by matching their data with other public and private databases to eliminate possibilities of double-dipping, so that only deserving applicants receive this financial aid.”
SASSA CEO, Totsie Memela, said that the department is aware of the unhappiness from applicants. Hence it was important for beneficiaries to understand the criteria because this grant was not necessarily for everyone.
“Those who feel aggrieved should either call 0800 60 10 11 or e-mail srd@sassa.gov.za with their complaints in order to access the recourse mechanism.
“Our aim is to pay the right grant to the right people,” Memela added.
So far 3.2 million applicants had been approved and 1.2 million paid. Payments were still in progress and SASSA needed to do a verification check before any payments can be done. Applications were processed daily but the major source of delays came from the necessary verification process that SASSA has to do with other institutions, which are dependencies in the value chain.
“We continue to work hard to ensure that those who qualify get what is due to them. Our main aim is to support the government in alleviating poverty, especially during these difficult times but we have to follow the required processes and we appeal for patience from those whose applications we have not reached so far,” Memela explained.
Beneficiaries are advised to use their own personal accounts and should ensure that their personal details are exactly as they appear on their identity documents.
“Personal information is very important because, should we find that the information provided during the application does not correspond with the identity document information during the verification check, it might result in the application being rejected.”
