South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) will pay grants for June from Friday, starting with the old age grant.
People receiving disability and children’s grants would have to wait until next week.
Sassa confirmed the following dates for June payments;
- June 2 – old age grants
- June 5 – disability grants
- June 6 – children grants
While many of the people receiving grants get stuck in long queues to withdraw the money, Sassa has urged people to not rush to get the cash on first day of payouts.
“There is no need to rush to withdraw cash on the first day. Once the money is in the account, it will remain there until it is needed,” Sassa said.
R253bn for Sassa in 2023/2024 department of social development budget
Earlier this week, Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu presented the department of social development’s 2023/2024 budget and said more than 90% of Sassa’s budget will be for grants.
“The total budget allocation for the 2023/2024 financial year is R263bn. Included in this is an amount of R253bn that consists of direct cash transfer payments that Sassa expects to pay to a projected 27-million eligible grant beneficiaries by March 2024,” Zulu said.
Foster care grants
Zulu said last June the department introduced a top-up child support grant (CSG) to address foster care backlogs, but not many people have registered for this.
“Nearly a year later, I remain concerned about the low uptake rate for this grant. I appeal to all those who are taking care of orphans and vulnerable children, faith- and community-based organisations to register such children for the top-up CSG,” she said.
No need to reapply for SRD
Sassa said beneficiaries of the R350 social relief of distress grant (SRD) do not need to reapply after the grant was extended to March 2024.
“The grant will continue as normal, those who previously applied for the grant do not need to reapply.”
There is also no fixed date for payouts of this grant.
Can I get a new gold card if I lost or misplaced my old one?
Sassa grant recipients who lost or misplaced their cards can go to any post office to collect a new one.
“Post office branch personnel will use fingerprint verification to issue the beneficiary with a new gold card,” the agency said.
Source: TimesLIVE
