Author: Marecia Damons

Treasury may withhold funds from the SA Social Security Agency’s (SASSA) budget if the conditions attached to its budget are not being met. SASSA has already started implementing Treasury’s conditions, flagging beneficiaries for in-person reviews if undisclosed income or potential identify fraud are detected. But MPs have raised concerns about payments delays and the burden it places on poor and rural households. About 45% of South Africa’s population receives social grants. National Treasury could withhold funds to the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) if it finds that conditions attached to its budget allocation are not being met. SASSA CEO…

Postbank has not applied for a full banking licence, but says it is legally allowed to issue cards under the National Payment System Act. The Black Card rollout was abruptly suspended in April following a chaotic transition from the SASSA Gold Card. The Reserve Bank said the temporary suspension of the Black Card rollout was to enable Postbank to “embed additional controls” for the Black Cards. Postbank says the Black and Gold Cards remain valid, and it still intends to apply for a full banking licence. Following months of a nationwide push to get social grant beneficiaries to switch to…

Black Sash hosted a discussion this week on whether removing social grants in an economy with high unemployment would worsen poverty and hunger. Black Sash’s Rachel Bukasa and COSATU’s Tony Ehrenreich argued that grants are a vital safety net amid job scarcity, rejecting claims that they breed dependency. Political economist Phumlani Majozi raised concerns about the fiscal sustainability of the grant system and criticised government’s lack of clear plans for economic growth and job creation. South Africa’s economy is not creating enough jobs, so what happens to the millions of people who currently rely on social grants? This was the…

The government has started a review of the social grant payment system, hoping to fix long-running problems that have affected the lives of millions of people. This was revealed during a meeting on Monday between government officials, academics and civil society groups who for years have been advocating for the rights of South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) beneficiaries. About 28-million people receive grants every month. The plan is to re-examine the Master Service Agreement and Service Level Agreement between SASSA, the SA Post Office (SAPO), and Postbank. These agreements have guided grant payments since 2018, when SAPO became SASSA’s…

The Auditor-General issued the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) a qualified audit opinion for 2023/24, citing poor internal controls and nearly R1-billion in underspent grant funds. Grant delays were mainly caused by vacancies and weaknesses in grant processing and oversight. The audit revealed repeated non-compliance, unachieved performance targets, asset mismanagement and failure to investigate irregular expenditure. Three material irregularities were flagged, including millions lost in incomplete or undelivered projects. The Auditor-General of South Africa has urged the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) to urgently tighten its internal controls. For the 2023/24 financial year, the Auditor-General issued the NLC with a qualified audit,…

Retired judge Anton Van Zyl has handed down a judgment in a matter more than 12 years after it was reserved. The matter was reserved in the Pietermaritzburg High Court, KwaZulu-Natal division on 12 December 2012. It was the longest outstanding judgment across all South African courts. According to the judicial norms and standards gazette in 2014, judgments in both civil and criminal matters should usually not be reserved without a date for when judgment will be handed down. Saving for exceptional cases where it is not possible to do so, every effort must be made to hand down judgments…

The Department of Social Development (DSD) is proposing changes to its Social Assistance Act, which includes removing the questions about income in the application of the R370-Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant. The proposed amendments are open for public comment until Monday, 14 April. The grant is available to people who get less than R625 per month, with the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) conducting monthly checks on applicants’ bank accounts to ensure they continue to meet this criterion. At present, people who apply for the SRD grant for the first time are required to answer questions about their current income…

The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has blamed delays in death registrations and system limitations for its payment of R140-million in social grants to about 75,000 deceased beneficiaries. On Wednesday, SASSA presented its audit action plan to Parliament’s portfolio committee on social development, following a financially unqualified opinion by the Auditor-General for 2023/24. SASSA Chief Financial Officer Tsakeriwa Chauke explained that the issue stemmed from the timing of payment processing. At the end of each month, SASSA prepares payment files for the next month. But some beneficiaries may pass away between when the payment file is generated and when…

Postbank and SASSA are racing against the 20 March deadline to replace 1.4 million expiring Gold Cards. In the Western Cape, more than 190,000 people still need to replace their cards with the new Black Cards. SASSA also said it is addressing long queues and staff shortages at its offices, while exploring doctor-initiated assessments to reduce office visits for disability grant applicants. The Agency also announced plans to implement biometric verification for all Social Relief of Distress grant beneficiaries to mitigate fraud and ensure the correct recipients are receiving grants. Postbank and the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) are…

The grant, introduced during the Covid lockdown, was intended to be a short-term solution for millions of people. The current extension of the SRD grant will end on 31 March 2026. In January, the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria ruled that regulations limiting access to the SRD grant were unconstitutional and invalid. The court also ordered the government to increase both the grant amount and the income threshold to qualify. Speaking to the portfolio committee on social development last Wednesday, advocate Luyanda Mtshotshisa, representing the department, told MPs that the government had appealed against the judgment they believe to be “flawed”. The…