Pensioners desperate for clarity after not receiving Sassa grants in June

The Citizen

15 hours ago

Some have wondered whether they are among the 210 000 social grant recipients who have been flagged for not disclosing their income.
Hordes of pensioners queued at Sassa offices in Durban on Thursday after not receiving their grant payments for June.
Many said that prior to the old age grant payment on 3 June, they had not received any notification that they would not be paid.
Some have wondered whether they are among the 210 000 social grant recipients who have been flagged for not disclosing their income.
This comes as SASSA is clamping down on fraudulent grants. National Treasury has also told Sassa to implement stricter means testing and verification.
ALSO READ: More than 200 000 will experience Sassa grant delays — here's why
Recipients of the R350 SRD grant have complained for years about Sassa's faulty verification systems and restrictions, some of which have been declared unlawful by the high court.
Recipients are nervous that the same challenges will now be experienced by other grant recipients.
GroundUp visited Sassa offices in Central Durban and Durban South on Thursday.
The offices were packed with people.
At the Central Durban office, at least two-thirds of the people in line put up their hands when an official asked who was there to query their unpaid old age grants.
Fatime Randeree, a 61-year-old pensioner from Overpoort, said she had been in line since 7:30am.
She said the security guards kept moving her to different lines without explanation.
She said they were told that Sassa staff were in a meeting all morning, which is why no one was being helped.
We spoke to Randeree again later in the day.
She said that when she finally got to the front of the line, she was told she cannot be helped without an affidavit confirming her husband's details.
When she returned later, about half an hour before the branch closed, she was denied entry and given an appointment for Monday.
Another woman in the line said that she had received her grant, but her husband had not.
She had come to the Sassa office to request that someone come to her home to speak to him, because he is blind and bedridden.
READ MORE: Basic Income Grant implementation postponed again
She was frustrated that she had to 'leave her husband alone for hours' to query why he didn't get his grant payment.
Sassa spokesperson Andile Tshona told GroundUp that the flagged beneficiaries 'were notified through SMS'.
Unfortunately, some of the beneficiaries change their number and they do not come to our offices to notify us of the changes. Beneficiaries have a responsibility to inform Sassa of changes.
Tshona said that when beneficiaries come forward to verify their income, their grants could be reinstated as early as next week.
'The review process outcome will determine if the beneficiary is still eligible for the grant or not.'
Disability grants
Disability grant recipients were also among those waiting in line.
Mduduzi Nzila had come to reapply for his disability grant. It was his fourth time visiting the Sassa office since a car accident in October 2024 left him with limited mobility in both hands.
His initial application had been declined, but he won an appeal. Despite this, he has still not received his grant.
Nzila, who is now struggling to support his sister and four children who live with him, said he walked from his home in Morningside because he could not afford the taxi fare.
In the Wentworth branch, located in Durban South, there was a long line of people to see the district surgeon for disability grant applications.
Keygan Asogan told GroundUp that he had waited from 5:30am to see the district surgeon, only to be denied disability grant status.
Asogan suffered a stroke in December 2021 and is no longer able to work.
He first applied for an appointment with the district surgeon in April this year and spent months getting together all the proper documentation needed.
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This included travel fees and a separate consultation with another doctor, said Asogan.
The waiting period for an appointment to appeal is six months, said Asogan. 'I'm battling to pay my bills without being able to work. I can't afford to wait another six months.'
Tiffany (we've withheld her surname) had come to reapply for her disability grant, something she has had to do every year, but has never faced any problems in the past.
But this month she did not receive payment as Sassa now wants her to show proof of divorce from her husband.
Tiffany has been separated from her husband for 16 years and does not know where he is.
'He was the one who crippled me,' said Tiffany, who walks on crutches.
She has no other source of income and has had to sell some of her personal belongings to afford transport and rent.
This article was republished from GroundUp under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here.