Sassa turns down over 98% of more than 10 million SRD grant appeals

NATIONAL NEWS - Grant recipients appealing their social relief status have a slim chance of success according to recent adjudication results.

The Department of Social Development (DSD) stated earlier this week that their new validation process has led to around 2% of the roughly 10 million appeals being approved.

The appeals relate to the Social Relief Distress (SRD) grant of R350 introduced during the global health scare of 2020. The amount has since increased to R370 per month since 1 April 2024.

Aimed at eliminating fraud and corruption

The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) and the DSD only approved roughly 112,000 appeals in the last financial year.

Sassa recently established a fraud and corruption unit which is tasked with improving the integrity of the benefits system.

The focus of the reviews and appeals test the recipient’s eligibility, as defined by the regulations during 2020’s implementation of the Disaster Management Act.

The initial application process is fully automated, but Sassa and DSD have improved their record authentication capabilities.

“Our enhanced and comprehensive data validation process has led to the detection and exclusion of many applicants or appellants,” explained John Mokoele, director of social assistance appeals at DSD.

“Most appellants now realise that even appealing may not yield positive results as we are conducting appropriate checks and balances”, he added.

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