The Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu has apologised for the delays experienced by Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant recipients.
We really needed to make sure that we improve on our system but also we needed to use a different set of regulations altogether which put us in a bit of a challenge in terms of our systems.
“There are different reasons why various beneficiaries are delayed in payment. Please DM us your ID number if your payment is delayed so that we can find out what the issue might be”, tweeted Sassa.
She added that there will be backdated payments made from the time of approval. Additionally, the department had to go into the banks and negotiate the payment of the grants because they have to pay the banks to handle beneficiary payments.
Sassa further stated that grant recipients who use PostBank may encounter delays due to connectivity problems with the Sassa payment services platform.
The timeouts are experienced when we have significant volumes. The team has started looking into the issue and striving to pinpoint it.
In addition to this, Sassa has said if it turns out that they need to confirm an applicant’s bank details to process payments, this suggests that they are currently doing so.
The agency also made it clear that the provided information can be mistaken. The payment process is therefore delayed if the beneficiary's bank account has been changed without notifying Sassa, which is another problem.
Possible 6causes of the delay issues include a breakdown in communication between Sassa and the beneficiary. Therefore, if a beneficiary discovers that they have been waiting for a lengthy period of time, they should check to see if Sassa has made an effort to get in touch with them. To get precise details, Sassa will contact R350 award recipients.
Furthermore, an applicant’s details such as a name, surname or identification number (ID). The government acknowledged that beneficiaries can have married within the grant's payment cycle and can have married within the grant's payment cycle, the government acknowledged. Payment of their award may be delayed or halted if details, like a changed last name due to marriage, are present.
However, if applicants have received a notification saying "Referred Link Risk Mobile," which indicates the phone number was used in a fraudulent application, they may still meet all the requirements for the SRD grant.
The South African Fraud Prevention Services (SAFPS) should be contacted as soon as possible by applicants to handle this situation. Once the problem has been rectified, they can send an email to [email protected] with documentation of their success.
Sassa also checks the applicant's Identity number against databases from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, Unemployment Insurance Fund, and South African Revenue Service.
