The introduction of Sassa R350 in May 2020 came at a financially difficult time for many South Africans who lost their jobs due to Covid-19 restrictions.
This, according to the Department of Social Development, was the first large-scale digitally implemented social security measure, for an initial period of six months.
But how has it fared since its reintroduction in July 2021, and how many people have been able to benefit from the grant?
According to a recent committee briefing by Sassa and the Social Development Department, the first R350 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant benefited six million a month.
Additionally, the number of payment transactions processed during this period was 68 193 449, which was 99% of the approved applications. There were 581 818 outstanding payment transactions for the period.
The Department further states that these were transactions from applicants whose applications had been approved but not paid because they could not trace them, or they did not contact Sassa to update their personal details.
A total of 571 724 grants had remained uncollected from the South African Post Office as of 30 July 2021. The total number of voluntarily canceled applications was 104 565, and the total number of deceased clients was 101 989.
Furthermore, in terms of progress with the implementation of the R350 SRD grant for August 2021, Sassa paid a total of 99.53% to grant recipients across all provinces, 98.1% in September, and 97.48% in October.
In addition to this, the grants approved and paid, for November to January 2022 were around the 95% mark. The mark for February 2022 was approximately 95%.
Sassa was also unable to pay out certain SRD grants due to reasons which include, bank account details that needed to be verified.
In some cases, R350 grant recipients had changed their bank details and were waiting for the bank to verify them, or funds had been paid to recipients but rejected by the bank, and the bank account closed.
