The South African Social Security (Sassa) has been experiencing delays in receiving its grant payments. Sassa has since clarified what cause the delays and payments.
The current cycle of the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant is still in place and the South African Social Security (Sassa) is still processing grant payments to qualifying applicants.
However, due to a series of delays that resulted from a payment backlog, there has not been much clarity regarding which period Sassa intends to disburse outstanding R350 grant payments.
In response to this query, Sassa stated that they have already initiated the processing of the blacklog R350 grant payments for April 2024. The agency added that SRD grant beneficiaries whose applications have been approved, will receive their grant payments
Sassa also stated that it happens that at times the information provided by the R350 applicant could be inaccurate. Another issue is that if the beneficiary’s bank account has been changed without notifying Sassa, the payment process is likely to be delayed.
Furthermore, the agency also said that they have been attempting to keep up with the flood of new applications through their systems, which is why the June applications have been granted.
In addition to offering an apology for the delay, Department Social Development (DSD), Lindiwe Zulu stated that there will be backdated payments made from the time of approval.
Additionally, because the department must pay the banks to handle beneficiary payments, the agency had to approach the banks and negotiate the payment of the grants.
Sassa also pointed out that delays could occur for grant beneficiaries using PostBank because of connectivity issues with the Sassa payment services platform.
