Applicants who have been approved for the Special Covid-19 R350 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant can now change their method of payment for their grant to be paid into their bank account.
The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has said that allowing beneficiaries to receive their payments into their bank accounts will help to avoid and reduce queues at Post Offices across the country.
SASSA spokesperson, Paseka Letsatsi says that as of 3 September, 4,5 million payments had been made into the bank accounts of applicants who had opted to receive their grants into their bank accounts.
Beneficiaries can change their payment method from 3 September until 10 September 2021 on the SASSA website.
SASSA has emphasized that applicants must make sure that they are providing the correct details to avoid delays in payments.
Letsatsi says that it is easier to receive the payment into a bank account than to wait for an SMS which indicates to beneficiaries that they have to collect their grant payments at the Post Office.
"If you have to go to the Post Office unfortunately, then you can't go to the Post Office to ask for the money until you have an SMS given to you," he explains.
SASSA has received over 14 million applications for the R350 SRD grant and has been rolling out payments while they verify the remaining applications.
Letsatsi says this solution will reduce queues and in turn aids in preventing the spread of Covid-19.
"The reason why we do this is because we have observed long queues at the Post Office and I think it would be irresponsible from SASSA to allow those long queues to continue because it will defeat the purpose of fighting against the spread of Covid-19."- SASSA spokesperson, Paseka Letsatsi.
Many beneficiaries are concerned about the charges they will be exposed to in their bank accounts, but Letsatsi says that beneficiaries are not forced to make use of their bank accounts for their grant payments if they are concerned about this.
He says that there are ongoing conversations about the best method people can make us of to receive their grant payments.
Caregivers who receive child grants and have also been approved for the R350 grant are paid through their Sassa payment card. Those who receive their grant payments to their SASSA cards are advised to access their money at merchants or bank ATMs, instead of collecting it at the Post Office.
These beneficiaries may also make use of their SASSA card to pay for purchases at selected stores without having to withdraw cash.
Letsatsi says that approved applicants can be assured that they will receive their grant payments within less than a month from when they have submitted their applications.
"What we can confirm is that the process does not take more than a month," he said.
Applications for the R350 SRD grant will be open until March 2022.
