How SASSA Navigates Growing Grant Payments and Challenges in South Africa. Millions of vulnerable South Africans depend on SASSA grants to meet their essential needs. SASSA is facing a surge in grant beneficiaries and is addressing the accompanying challenges.
Commitment Amid Challenges
Despite ongoing challenges, the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) remains dedicated to fulfilling its constitutional mandate of providing social support grants to the nation’s most vulnerable citizens.
Extensive Grant Disbursements
SASSA disburses permanent grants to roughly 19 million recipients every month. These encompass a range of grants, including the Older Persons’ grant, Disability grant, War Veterans’ grant, Child Support grant, Foster Care grant, Care Dependency Grant, and the Grant-In-Aid.
Aiding Vulnerable Citizens
In addition to permanent grants, SASSA administers the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant to more than 7 million individuals. This translates to approximately 45% of South Africa’s total population being beneficiaries of social grants.
Support for a Significant Population
SASSA’s efforts provide support to over 27.3 million beneficiaries, constituting around 45% of the nation’s population.
Challenges Impacting Grant Payments
However, recent months have seen various challenges affecting the seamless delivery of grant payments. These include power outages, budget cuts, and technical difficulties associated with Postbank, which have impacted some beneficiaries using SASSA payment cards.
Rising Numbers of Grant Beneficiaries
SASSA reports a notable increase in the number of social grants in payment, rising from nearly 18.7 million to nearly 18.9 million, with an associated cost of R202 billion. This reflects a growth rate of approximately 0.82%. Additionally, an average of 8.5 million SRD grant beneficiaries receive payments monthly, resulting in an expenditure of R30.2 billion for the 2022/23 fiscal year.
Efficient Grant Administration
SASSA manages to keep the cost of administering social assistance at a monthly rate of R22, lower than the initially projected target of below R37 per month. Moreover, SASSA approves more than 1.6 million grant applications, surpassing its target of 1.2 million and achieving a commendable 99.5% success rate against the set goal.
Handling the COVID-19 SRD Grants
SASSA successfully processes all Covid-19 SRD grant applications for the fiscal year. Out of 8.5 million applications, 5.3 million were declined as of March 31, 2023.
Expansion in Beneficiary Numbers
The total number of beneficiaries paid via all payment platforms witnessed an increase of 91,090 over a 12-month period. Moreover, beneficiaries receiving payments through their own bank accounts saw a surge of 1.1 million during the same timeframe.
Budget Considerations
In contrast to the previous year, when SASSA received additional funding, the 2022/23 fiscal year saw no extra funding. SASSA had to reprioritize its budget to cover the administrative costs of the R350 Grant. Additionally, the agency secured approval to retain a portion of the cash surplus from the prior year to support various administrative expenses.
