R370 Grant Beneficiaries in Tsakane Haven’t Been Paid in Months

Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant beneficiaries say they’ve visited the local SASSA office many times and are yet to be helped.

• Beneficiaries of the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant in Tsakane are struggling to access their money.
• Many people we spoke to say they were struggling with SASSA’s online verification system or had not received a verification link at all.
• SASSA says it will investigate why some beneficiaries are not getting their grants. The agency says that some beneficiaries have been flagged for earning wages while also receiving a grant.

Thembi Thukwayo walked for about three kilometres from her home in Extension 19 to Tsakane Mall in Brakpan to withdraw her R370 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Grant. But when she arrived at the ATM, her account was empty.

Because she had no food at home and had run out of electricity, Thukwayo walked to her nearest SASSA office, where she was told to return on another day because the system was offline.

“There is no electricity at home. The municipality took away our free units. Honestly, I don’t know where to start because all my food is finished,” said Thukwayo, who relies on piecemeal jobs to survive.

Since 2023, Thukwayo has been receiving the SRD grant each month without any problems. She had not received any message from SASSA about having to verify her details. Because she doesn’t have mobile data, she would not be able to access the online system if a verification link were sent to her.

This week, she was among dozens of SRD beneficiaries who came to the Tsakane SASSA office to get answers on why their grants had not been paid. Many of them had heard of SASSA’s ongoing efforts to verify details of beneficiaries to prevent fraud and to check if they have any other income. Some of them said they either had not received the verification link, and those who had were struggling to navigate the online portal to upload their information.

Some people in the line said their applications have been pending approval for months, despite not having any income. They also complained that calling SASSA’s toll-free number has been futile.

SASSA announced in April that all Social Relief of Distress Grant beneficiaries, including new applicants, should go through an identity verification to avoid delays. But since then, many beneficiaries have been struggling to get the grant due to issues with the verification process.

Mbali Nkabinde said she didn’t receive the grant from January to March, and again in May. She is yet to get answers on why this happened. Last month her grant stopped again. “It won’t surprise me if the payment does not reflect in July because my payments are so irregular.”

Thembisile Vilakazi matriculated last year and decided to apply for the SRD grant in December. Despite being informed that her grant was approved, she has never received a payment. The SASSA office informed her that someone else is receiving the money. Despite visiting the office to try and rectify the issue, nothing has changed.

“My parents have not yet managed to raise money for me to go to college, and it has been difficult to get a job. Not being able to receive my payment has been very disappointing,” she said.

Senior Media Relations Manager at SASSA Andile Tshona told GroundUp that the verification process is necessary and that the agency would investigate why some beneficiaries have not been getting their grants.

Tshona said the SRD grant is means-tested to determine if an applicant qualifies for the grant by checking the applicant’s eligibility against the R624 monthly threshold.

He confirmed that SASSA is currently reviewing all social grants of beneficiaries suspected of having income they did not disclose.

“Through working with registered Credit Bureaus, we have discovered that some people are working while receiving a grant from SASSA. Beneficiaries have a responsibility to inform SASSA if their financial circumstances have improved afterward applying for the grant,” Tshona said.

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