Social grants not suspended: Sassa

CLAIMS that thousands of social grants have been suspended are “categorically false”, the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has said, urging recipients not to panic and to participate in an ongoing national grant review process.

- MORGAN MORGAN [e-mail]

Sassa explained that the review, which targets beneficiaries flagged for possibly having undeclared income, has led to short-term delays in some payments but no permanent suspensions.

“There has been no suspension of social grants,” Sassa said in a statement issued on July 7, “but during the review process, grants get delayed momentarily until a beneficiary has successfully completed the review process.”

However, a KwaZulu-Natal man who contacted The Mercury has complained about how Sassa is handling the process.

The man said they were despondent when his wife's pension grant was initially not paid. It was paid some days later.

He said they had no idea whether she had been under review and if this had been cleared. He added that they had not submitted any documents to Sassa.

According to Sassa, the review is not meant to penalise anyone but is required by law to ensure that recipients are still eligible and that taxpayers’ money is not abused. In particular, it helps the agency detect issues such as grants still being paid to deceased persons or individuals with new employment who failed to update their status.