SASSA launches biometric checks (fingerprints, face scanning) to fight grant fraud

702's Bongani Bingwa chats to Brenton van Vrede of Grants Administration at the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA).

Listen to their conversation in the audio clip below:

The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) will officially roll out biometric verification from 1 September in a move to clamp down on fraudulent grant applications. 

This new system, requiring either a fingerprint or facial scan, will apply to all new applicants as well as those making changes to their personal details. 

"We're not targeting every single SASSA recipient. It's for new applicants... Every time you come in to do a review, change your contact details, etc, we'll also use that opportunity to capture your biometrics. So, we're not going to call everyone in at once to come and biometrically enrol; that will obviously take a few years for us to do. For now, the main goal is to deal with all new applications." 

- Brenton van Vrede, SASSA

Van Vrede says the agency has been piloting the system since April and is confident it’s ready for national implementation.

He explains that while existing recipients won’t immediately be required to enrol, SASSA processes around 1.8 million new applications annually, offering a gradual path to full biometric coverage. 

Van Vrede assures that contingency plans are in place to revert to manual systems if technical issues arise. 

"We have various risk mitigation methods in place, as well as full rollback and reverting to a manual system if we have a system crash. If the worst-case scenario happens, we'll still be able to at least proceed with normal business, but obviously, we're not planning on having the worst-case scenario."

- Brenton van Vrede, SASSA

Scroll up to listen to the full conversation.