NOBODY HAS BEEN PAID THE R350 COVID-19 GRANT YET: SASSA

WRITTEN BY POWER DIGITAL ON 22 MAY 2020 17:27

No applicant has benefitted from Covid-19 relief grant of R350 from the government.

This is according to the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) spokesperson Paseka Letsatsi.

Moreover, potential beneficiaries should not apply at Sassa branches.

“Unfortunately, what we are not doing at Sassa offices is taking the R350 Covid-19 social grant [applications]. We still have people coming to our offices.

“Please do not come to Sassa offices for the Covid-19 social grants,” says Letsatsi.

He was speaking on POWER Drive on Friday.

To register for the grant the social development department has issued a WhatsApp number 0600 123 456 alternatively one can apply by sending a mail to SRD@Sassa.gov.za

Letsatsi says 75 000 people have applied for the Covid-19 grant and approximately 35 000 were disqualified because they don’t meet the minimum requirements to qualify.

He explains that in line with lockdown regulations, one-third of the staff are back at their offices under lockdown alert level 4.

On Mondays and Tuesdays Sassa assists people with old-age grant applications while on Wednesdays and Thursdays the agency attends to child support grants, Letsasi explains.

“And then on Friday we are dealing with the overflow,” he says adding that they have sought to manage the queues by setting up appointments.

Compiled by Vukile Dlwati