Child grant recipients left without money for January

Almost a week after the payment date for the child support grant, many recipients have not yet received their money for January.

Many people nationwide have complained to organisations PayTheGrants and Black Sash that their grants have been suspended, seemingly for little or no reason. It appears some old-age grant recipients have also been affected.

The child support grant is R510/month and 65% of children in SA receive the grant.

The SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) denies that there was anything exceptional about January’s payment run. Sassa says grants are suspended every month for recipients who fail bank verification processes or are declared dead by the department of home affairs.

“This is a monthly process that is conducted as part of the prepayment process and not just specific to the month of January 2024,” Sassa spokesperson Paseka Letsatsi said.

But Elizabeth Raiters, who heads PayTheGrants’ help desk, says Sassa officials confirmed to her earlier on Tuesday that there was a “system error” and the matter is being resolved. But it is unclear whether recipients will receive their money before the next payment run in February.

Raiters said she had a meeting with more than 100 affected recipients in Eldorado Park on Monday evening. She estimates that thousands of recipients have been affected nationwide.

“It is very bad for beneficiaries,” Raiters said. “Children have to go back to school and now the parents can’t buy food or stationery.”

Black Sash Western Cape coordinator Thandi Hanekom also said there had been an increase in reports of erroneous suspensions.

This was confirmed by a Sassa official at a branch in Gqeberha, speaking to GroundUp anonymously.

GroundUp visited branch offices in Mitchells Plain (Cape Town) and Kariega (Nelson Mandela Bay), where grant recipients lined up to reapply after their grants were suspended.

According to Raiters, grants have been suspended for “ridiculous reasons”, which never presented problems before. For example, she said, some grants were suspended because recipients had two names on their bank statements but three names on their identity documents.

Sassa’s national payment system has experienced several problems over the past two years. In September, thousands of social grant recipients were left without money after a “technical glitch” disrupted payment into the accounts of recipients who use Sassa Gold cards.

IT IS UNCLEAR WHETHER RECIPIENTS WILL RECEIVE THEIR MONEY BEFORE THE NEXT PAYMENT RUN IN FEBRUARY