Formed in April 2005, the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) is an institution that is responsible for the administration of various social grants to qualifying South Africans.
The institution has a vision to be a leader in the delivery of social security services. SASSA provides social grants to more than 15 million recipients nationally.
What SASSA does:
Reporting to the Ministry of Social Development, SASSA is essentially tasked with ensuring that the government pays the right grant, to the right person, at a location which is most convenient to that person.
In January 2017, SASSA released a statement on the future grant payment system.
This follows an April 2014 ruling by the Constitutional Court that ordered SASSA to re-issue the country’s R10billion grants tender.
The Constitutional Court’s Justice Johan Fronerman criticised SASSA for its “irregular” conduct when the tender was awarded to Net1 division Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) in 2012. CPS has also previously been criticised for selling loans and pre-paid airtime to social grant recipients in South Africa. Even though the company has assisted with more than R130 billion in social grants being distributed annually, the current grant payment contract with CPS expires at the end of March.
In light of the Constitutional Court ruling, SASSA is currently finalising consultations with the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and the National Treasury.
A presentation was made by to Parliament on the 1st of February 2017.
In its statement on the future grant payment system, SASSA said that they will ensure that grants are received unencumbered as required by the Social Assistance Act.
SASSA has assured social grant recipients that there will be no disruptions in the system. Social grant beneficiaries will continue to be paid as usual and on time even beyond April 2017.
Contact SASSA on 0800 60 10 11.