Some beneficiaries of the government’s Social Relief of Distress Grant (SRD) have expressed concerns that they have not received their grant for the month of April.
They say they have been waiting for their R350 from the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) since the beginning of the month, without any success.
During his State of the Nation Address earlier this year, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the SRD grant will be extended until the end of March next year.
In the report below, civil group Black Sash welcomes the announcement:
The grant recipients say they have had a tough month as they have no other source of income.
“We are surprised because we didn’t receive our R350 from SASSA this month. We rely on this money, and it is very important to us because it’s helping us a lot.”
“We have borrowed from people hoping we will pay them when we get our SASSA grant, but it didn’t come through. We don’t know what to do. This money was helping us to pay for our burial society, we are asking for SASSA to tell us if the money is still available or not.”
Beneficiaries have to reapply
SASSA spokesperson Paseka Letsatsi says all SRD beneficiaries will have to re-apply as the payment would be provided under a new legislative framework.
This after President Ramaphosa and cabinet lifted the country’s National State of Disaster.
“The South African Social Security Agency can confirm that no one has been paid for April as the process requires a new application for the period from April 2022 to March 2023. The regulatory framework for this grant had to be changed following the lifting of the National State of Disaster related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the regulations for this grant, which is now included under the Social Assistance Act published, SASSA did not have a mandate to continue paying the grant. The regulations were only published in February 2022 and SASSA then opened the website application channel.”
Letsatsi clarifies the re-application process:
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