SASSA under fire over grant review process amid complaints from beneficiaries
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Civil society group Black Sash has condemned SASSA for failing thousands of social grant recipients, saying many have had their payments delayed without a clear explanation or proper notice.
The watchdog has also called for a pause in the ongoing review process, citing widespread confusion and distress among beneficiaries.
"Despite the CEO's claim that no grants have been suspended, we are witnessing a surge in complaints from beneficiaries who have been cut off without a clear explanation or notification.
"Our Community Monitoring teams, based across the country and our national Helpline have been overwhelmed with distress calls from elderly persons, people with disabilities and caregivers, many of whom only discovered their grants had been 'flagged' when their money failed to appear"
The advocacy group also argued that the situation was further exacerbated by the impact of bank verification checks on Older Persons' grants, which also impacted grant payment delays and added to the fear, confusion, and queues at SASSA local offices.
Black Sash's message was in response to SASSA' CEO, Themba Matlou, who, during a press briefing on Monday, defended the agency's review process as necessary for verifying eligibility and combating fraud.
"SASSA would like to categorically state that no social grant payments have been suspended or halted. All approved grants remain valid, andpayments continue to be processed. Any beneficiary with an active andvalid grant remains entitled to receive their payment," Matlou said.
"This year, we have only introduced and implemented a 4th payment date to our payment schedule, where beneficiaries targeted for a review are paid on the 4th day".
Matlou added that this "would ensure that they receive their payment after the necessary review, without prejudicing the general payment cycle for others,".
In an interview on 702 on Monday, SASSA's Executive Manager for Grants Administration, Brenton van Vrede, provided further clarity on what constitutes 'additional income' and how beneficiaries are selected for review.
He explained that only formal incomes, such as salaries, rental income, or court-ordered maintenance, count towards the means test.
'Maintenance is considered as income, but most people don't formalise that arrangement. So, it wouldn't be considered additional income unless there's a maintenance agreement.'
Regarding income thresholds, Van Vrede specified: 'The means test threshold for the child support grant is R5,600, and the old age grant is almost R9,000, R8,990.'
He added that rental income or any other income pushing beneficiaries over these limits could result in ineligibility for grants. 'If that rental income takes them over the threshold, then they won't qualify for the grant.'
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