1 (a) In terms of Regulation 30(2) of the Social Assistance Act (Act No. 13 of 2004), SASSA may conduct a review at any time when it has a reason to believe that the beneficiary's circumstances, including financial circumstances, may have changed. These reviews are often triggered when SASSA beneficiaries are found on databases indicating that they may be in receipt of income that they’ve not declared. Similarly, a large portion of the reviews are also triggered by the the office of the Auditor General of South Africa (AGSA) audit finding, which also involves database checks.
(b) Number of clients selected for review per social grant type is reflected in table 1 below:
Table: 1 Number of Clients per Social Grant Type
GRANT TYPE |
TOTAL CLIENTS |
OLDER PERSON'S GRANT |
42942 |
DISABILITY GRANT |
17065 |
CHILD SUPPORT GRANT |
8559 |
FOSTER CHILD GRANT |
8793 |
CARE-DEPENDENCY GRANT |
3097 |
DG GRANT-IN-AID |
1841 |
GRANT-IN-AID |
188 |
OAG GRANT-IN-AID |
1904 |
TOTAL |
84389 |
(c) (i) Number of clients that have been reviewed per Province is displayed in table 2 below:
Table: 2 Number of Clients per Province
PROVINCE |
NUMBER OF CLIENTS |
Eastern Cape |
4531 |
Free State |
5137 |
Gauteng |
6868 |
KwaZulu Natal |
20029 |
Limpopo |
5049 |
Mpumalanga |
4336 |
Northern Cape |
1401 |
North West |
3004 |
Western Cape |
8193 |
Total |
58548 |
(ii) Number of clients still to be reviewed per each Province is reflected in the table below:
Table 3: Number of Clients to be Reviewed.
PROVINCE |
CLIENTS |
Eastern Cape |
3234 |
Free State |
1488 |
Gauteng |
2625 |
KwaZulu Natal |
6871 |
Limpopo |
2422 |
Mpumalanga |
2236 |
Northern Cape |
2817 |
North West |
1892 |
Western Cape |
2256 |
TOTAL |
25841 |
d (i) Number of social grants that have been stopped since clients are not coming forward in each province:
(ii) Number of grants stopped due to clients no longer meeting the means test and qualifying criteria in each Province:
(e) SASSA uses registered mail sent via the post office as provided for in Regulation 30 of Social Assistance Regulations. By law, the onus is on the beneficiary to ensure that the contact details are up to date with the Agency.
(f ) The Regulations makes it the responsibility of the clients to notify the Agency of any changes in personal details. This will enable SASSA to share important information with the client as it uses the details captured on the application form.
The legislation follows three steps. The first is notify the client of a review. The second is to suspend their grant, if they do not respond to the review request. This caters for beneficiaries who did not get the communication, as they would / should approach SASSA if their grant is suspended, to find out why. They will then be notified of the review, and should they complete the review and still qualify for the grant, the suspension will be lifted. The third and final step is cancelling the grant if the beneficiary does not come forward for the review or approach SASSA after being suspended.