The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has announced that there are delays processing the “reconsideration” for the Covid-19 SRD Grant.
Reconsideration applicants are delayed
SASSA reminds applicants to request reconsideration for the R350 grant in the case that their application was wrongly rejected. Applicants who request this must be sure, however, that they meet the qualifying criteria.
The agency also reminded applicants that the grant is not intended for “top-up” reasons.
“It is important to remind applicants that the grant is intended only for those citizens who have no financial support from any other source. It is not intended to ‘top up’ support already received.”
Dianne Dunkerley, Executive Manager of the Grants Administration department, further explained that the delay in payments is due to banks having to confirm whether or not the applicant has a source of income.
“The delay in attending to reconsiderations is as a result of delays in contracting banks to undertake means-testing, amongst other services.”
SASSA recommends applicants switch to alternative methods to receive the SRD Grant
While SASSA is dealing with the delay problem, Dunkerley further advises applicants who chose the “cash send” option, rather switch to a personal bank account.
Alternatively, applicants also have the option of the Post Office for quicker access to the SASSA R350 grant. The personal bank account payment will be the quickest, however.
According to the statement, the cash send option is not yet available due to contracts that are yet to be finalised with various banks.
“The previous contracts expired when the grant came to an end and we had to follow a procurement process to enter into contracts once again. This whole process has, unfortunately, delayed the contracting.”