While the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) continues to face various challenges, they remain committed to their constitutional mandate of providing social support grants to vulnerable citizens.
SASSA pays permanent grants to approximately 19 million people every month. These permanent grants include the Older Persons' grant, Disability grant, War Veterans' grant, Child Support grant, Foster Care grant, Care Dependency Grant, and the Grant-In-Aid.
In addition to these payment grants, SASSA also distributes the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant to more than 7 million people. This means that around 45% of South Africa's population are beneficiaries of social grants.
SASSA provides support to more than 27.3 million beneficiaries, which accounts for about 45% of the population.
However, in recent months, several challenges have disrupted grant payments. These challenges include load shedding, budget reductions, and technical issues with Postbank affecting some beneficiaries using SASSA payment cards.
Growth in Grant Beneficiary Numbers
SASSA revealed an increase in the number of social grants in payment from almost 18 700 000 to almost 18 900 000, costing R202 billion. This represents a growth of approximately 0.82%. Additionally, an average of 8.5 million SRD grant beneficiaries were paid monthly, with an expenditure of R30.2 billion for the 2022/23 financial year.
The average cost of administering social assistance is R22 per month, lower than the target projected at below R37 per month. SASSA also approved more than 1.6 million grant applications against a target of 1.2 million, achieving 99.5% against the target.
SASSA managed to process all Covid-19 SRD grant applications for the financial year. A total of 8.5 million applications were approved, and 5.3 million were declined as of 31 March 2023.
The overall number of beneficiaries paid across all payment platforms increased by 91,090 during the 12-month period. Beneficiaries paid through their own bank accounts increased by 1.1 million over the same period.
Unlike the previous year when SASSA received additional funding, there was no extra funding in the 2022/23 financial year. SASSA reprioritised its budget to cover the administrative costs of the R350 Grant. Additionally, the agency obtained approval to retain a portion of the cash surplus from the previous year to support various administrative costs.
