The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) issues more than 18 million permanent grants every month. Sassa grant beneficiaries are now being urged to make sure their grant doesn't get suspended.
Sassa is encouraging beneficiaries to ensure that they read their notification letters. This notification letter is there to keep the beneficiary and Sassa up to date about any changes that could affect their Sassa grants.
Beneficiaries therefore need to make sure that Sassa has their correct addresses on their database to receive these notifications on time.
It is the responsibility of a social grant beneficiary to notify the agency about any changes in his/her circumstances, including changes such as marital status, financial or medical situation.
Should beneficiaries fail to keep up with these notification letters and update their information, this could be seen as a "failure to cooperate during the grant review". Sassa has said that engaging in fraudulent activity or misrepresentation that results in the approval of the grant, and failing to submit the required documents could lead to the Sassa grant beneficiary having their grant suspended.
Avoid Sassa Grant Suspension
Sassa has said beneficiaries should take action to avoid their grant being suspended. "To avoid the suspension of social grant the beneficiary must report the circumstances mentioned above as early as possible," said Sassa.
In a situation where the grant was suspended, restoration of the suspended grant application must be lodged within 30 days of suspension. This restoration happens when the grant was suspended due to failure to collect for more than three consecutive months or failure to review.
Grants distributed by Sassa include the Older Persons pension grant, Disability grant, War Veterans grant, Care Dependency grant, Foster Child grant, Child Support grant, Child Support grant Top-Up and Grant-in-aid.
Sassa is also responsible for the social relief of distress grant, which we know as the SRD grant or R370 Sassa grant.
Sassa Grant Payments
Sassa usually pays permanent social grants in the first week of the month, starting on the second working day of the month. Sassa grant payments don't take place on weekends and public holidays.
As for the SRD grant, Sassa has not yet announced when SRD grant payments will be made for the month of June. However, SRD grant payments are usually paid during the last week of the month.
Sassa beneficiaries can choose to have their Sassa grant be paid directly to their bank account. Beneficiaries can also collect their Sassa social grants at several payment points.
These payment points include ATMs and retail stores such as Pick n Pay, Checkers, Shoprite and Boxer.
Sassa has said that there is no need to rush to withdraw the Sassa money on the first day because once the money is paid, it will remain in your bank account.