SASSA grant payments may be delayed for thousands in KZN

The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has warned that payments to around 184 000 social grant beneficiaries in KwaZulu-Natal may be delayed next month.

This follows the discovery that many failed to disclose additional sources of income during their initial applications.

Nationally, SASSA has identified 210 000 individuals potentially in breach of the Social Assistance Act, which requires applicants to fully disclose all sources of income. The irregularities were detected through collaboration with registered credit bureaus.

SASSA’s KwaZulu-Natal provincial head, Thamo Mzobe, says the highest number of suspected cases have been found in Chatsworth, Phoenix, and eThekwini Central.

Mzobe says, “It’s important that time and again we sample the people if indeed they’re compliant with all the legislation for them to get grants and this grant is meant for poor people, this grant is meant for people who don’t have income. So once we discover that there is an irregularity that has happened for me to get this grant, we do justice by asking you to come to us and conduct a review with you to ascertain indeed that you are a person that is eligible for this money.”

“This time around, we sampled one million in the country, in the country 210 000 that was confirmed to be in breach of what the SASSA Act was compiled for,” Mzobe added.

SASSA has urged affected individuals to respond to the agency’s request for a review of their eligibility.

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