Sassa: Stricter requirements for new Social Relief of Distress Grant applicants

The South African Social Security Agency said it has tightened its criteria for the new Social Relief of Distress Grant as part of its new regulations.

The agency, and the Department of Social Development, briefed the National Council of Provinces’ select committee about the new legal framework on Tuesday.

The new regulations will consider people’s educational background. It’s hoped that they will address issues such as state officials, and employed people, irregularly receiving the R350 grant.

Sassa said the new grants are similar to the previous COVID-19 SRD grant of R350, which fell under the Disaster Management Act framework. The newly developed regulations mean the SRD now falls under the Social Development Department.

Sassa executive manager Brenton Van Vrede said the shifting of the SRD into existing legislation will mean more stringent requirements. “If you do qualify for this grant, we check the income database, the IRP database from SARS – which is an indicator of income. We check the Unemployment Insurance Fund databases, contributors database – which is if you are contributing to UIF – it’s an indication of some level of employment,” he explained.

Minister Lindiwe Zulu told the committee that most South Africans have indicated that they would rather be employed than receive a grant.

-EWN

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