Social grants go unpaid as beneficiaries struggle with SASSA’s system
Activists say they get dozens of complaints weekly about the online verification process.
Many recipients of the R370-a-month Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant say they are battling with SASSA’s online verification system. Picture: Ashraf Hendricks/GroundUp
Beneficiaries of the R370-a-month Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant are battling to verify their identities online, a requirement for accessing the grant.
Black Sash helpline manager Kgothatso Sibanda said the organisation was receiving up to 35 calls a week from beneficiaries who had not received the verification link the SA Social Security Agency (SASSA) sends during the verification process. Most of the complaints were from people who had just turned 18 and discovered that their IDs had been fraudulently used by other people to apply for the grant.
She said many grant recipients didn’t have smartphones or could not get data, making it impossible to access the links. And calling the SASSA helpline often led nowhere, she said.
Asked for comment, SASSA told GroundUp it was unaware of any problems with the SRD verification system and requested the names of those affected. A week after we sent SASSA their details, the agency said the official responsible was on leave. We are yet to receive a further response.
Around nine million people rely on the SRD grant, although this number fluctuates monthly due to means testing. Earlier this month, SASSA announced that all new applicants must now complete biometric identity verification. Beneficiaries who still have a green ID book, have a higher chance of failing the biometrics due to the low quality of the photo on the Home Affairs’ data system.
Dalene Raiters from Eldorado Park in Johannesburg told GroundUp she got her grant in 2023. A few months later, her account was flagged when SASSA suspected she was a victim of fraud and her grant was placed on hold until she completed the online biometric verification.
To complete this process, she applied for a smart ID card. “I had to pay for transport [to Home Affairs] and then R140 to get the ID. The taxi fare was more than the ID itself. My taxi fare totalled R320,” she said.
She began receiving payments in July 2024 but was blocked again in May 2025 for “identity verification”. She requested the online link to complete the biometric process, but her account is still blocked.
Without the grant, she has had no choice but to turn to a loan shark. “I must go again to the mashonisa in June. Their interest rates are 50%. I normally borrow R200 and then I pay back R300.”
Raiters said she used the grant to buy food. She lives with her two unemployed sons and two grandchildren. Both she and her 28-year-old son receive the SRD grant, and her six-year-old grandson gets the R560-a-month Child Support Grant.
Each month, she buys the Shoprite R99 grocery combo:
- 2.5kg white maize meal
- 2kg parboiled rice
- 750ml sunflower oil
- 400g chilli beef soya mince
- 500g macaroni or spaghetti
“I couldn’t buy that this month, and now we’re struggling,” she said.
Lincaster Davids, also from Eldorado Park, has not been paid since March. He tried to update his cellphone number and was asked to complete biometric verification, but couldn’t. Without passing the biometric verification process, Davids can’t update his contact details, and he can’t access the grant.
“I went to the SASSA office in Eldorado Park, but when I got there, they cut the line and said I must come back another day,” he said.
To collect the SRD grant at retailers, beneficiaries must show their IDs and the cellphone number linked to the SRD account. A message is then sent to that number for approval before the R370 can be withdrawn.
Social grants activist Elizabeth Raiters said she had been inundated with complaints from beneficiaries. “Ten people come to my house every day, including weekends. I have to keep turning them away, explaining that the system is not working. When I walk in the street, people stop me to assist them with the same issue,” Raiters said.
She said the verification system was unreliable. “It’s either down or very slow, or when beneficiaries receive a link it doesn’t work.”
“The SRD is becoming more of a punishment than serving its purpose. It’s the only grant that is so uncertain,” Raiters said.
The Black Sash’s Sibanda suggested that SASSA set up help desks at local offices where beneficiaries can be manually verified by staff.
This article first appeared on GroundUp. Read the original article here.