The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) is set to cancel fraudulent Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant applications, a move that could affect thousands of people who currently benefit from the grant.
The SRD grant is the only financial support available to unemployed adults living in South Africa. According to Sassa, around 8 million people living in the country receive monthly SRD grant payments.
However, the agencies' intention to cancel fraudulent grant payments could be a concern for individuals who deserve the grant.
Sassa implemented this activity to ensure that the Agency pays social grants to the right people and avoid fraud.
Sassa assured all beneficiaries that they can re-apply for the SRD grant if their grant payment was cancelled. These applicants will be subject to Sassa’s SRD grant verification processors including biometric verification.
Sassa’s biometric identification checks were introduced in 2024. During this time, two first-year students detected significant fraud in the SRD Grant payment system.
The students found that fraudsters were using unsuspecting citizens' identity numbers to apply for the SRD Grant and receiving the funds in bank accounts using the same ID numbers. This potentially eliminated deserving people from accessing government relief.
Sassa encouraged beneficiaries to guard their personal information and not share any information with strangers to avoid “becoming aiding fraudsters”.
Sassa has well trained officials who are assigned to deal with Covid-19 SRD grant cases. If the beneficiary or applicant is suspecting fraudulent activity, he or she must not hesitate to contact Sassa toll free line or WhatsApp.
SRD grant beneficiaries who receive a 'referred’ SRD grant status must contact Sassa immediately.
When the beneficiaries check their status and find out that it states “referred” it means that the Sassa system is suspecting fraudulent activity therefore the beneficiary must contact Sassa immediately to resolve the case.
Beneficiaries are warned not to keep on changing their banking details and contact numbers because those processes delay the payment process.
