Durban — The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) in KwaZulu-Natal has urged beneficiaries not to sleep outside Sassa local offices with the hope of becoming the first person to be served the following day as they became easy prey for unscrupulous people.
Sassa KZN spokesperson Sandy Godlwana said that the agency appreciated the positive response from social grant beneficiaries who had heeded the call to present themselves for the review of their social grants.
Godlwana said that Sassa KZN had devised a booking system for all beneficiaries who were identified for reviews and each local office was tasked with ensuring that all beneficiaries were assisted swiftly.
Sassa KZN is exploring the modalities of processing the reviews on weekends.
“Whilst the positive response is acknowledged, the safety of beneficiaries is sacrosanct, hence beneficiaries are urged not to sleep outside Sassa local offices with the hope of becoming the first person to be served the following day as they become easy prey for unscrupulous people,” Godlwana said.
She said that 38 622 social grants still needed to be reviewed in line with the provisions of the Social Assistance Act (2004) regulations, which empowers Sassa to review social assistance at any time it had reason to believe that changes in the beneficiary’s circumstances might have occurred.
In order to be reviewed, beneficiaries are requested to provide the following documentation:
- Identity document of the beneficiary;
- Birth certificate of children for Child Support Grants;
- Three-month bank statement of beneficiary and spouse if married;
- Payslip of beneficiary and spouse if married;
- Proof of residence;
- For disability and care dependency grants, beneficiaries may undergo a medical assessment.
“After submitting all the required documents within 30 days of suspension of the grant and it is deemed that you still qualify for your grant, Sassa may restore the grant from the date on which it was suspended,” Godlwana said.
“If after submitting all your documents and it transpires that you do not qualify
for social assistance, you may lodge an appeal with the Independent Tribunal
within a period of 90 days after the decision by Sassa.”
Godlwana said that for further details, affected clients should contact Sassa KZN Customer Care Line at 033 846 3400 or Sassa National Toll-Free number at 0800 60 10 11.
On Monday, Sassa KZN said that it was concerned by the increasing number of scam messages doing the rounds on social media purporting to be selling Sassa cards.
It warned the public that Sassa cards were not for sale and that any person claiming to be selling Sassa cards was committing a crime.
Two weeks ago, Sassa KZN urged social grant recipients to be wary of fake people purporting to be Sassa officials visiting households to change Sassa payment cards.
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