The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) evaluates Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant applications on a monthly basis.
This could see your application be accepted this month and rejected the next month. SASSA evaluates these applications monthly to ensure that grant recipients are deserving of the R350 grant and ensure they meet the qualifying criteria. If your SRD grant application is declined, you will be provided with a reason why it was declined.
One message that declined applicants have received is ‘alternative_income_source_identified’. This means that SASSA has determined that you receive money from a source worth more than R595.
Income is defined by SASSA as ‘Income in relation to the SRD R350 grant means, any source of income as defined in regulation 19 of the Social Assistance Regulations, 2008 and includes any form of donation or other financial support or financial assistance received by the applicant of not more than R595 as per the food poverty line threshold’.
If you receive more than R595 your SRD grant application will be rejected. The grant was set up to support unemployed individuals during the Covid-19 pandemic. If you receive ‘income’ as per SASSA’s definition, you do not qualify for the SRD grant.
Here’s the qualifying criteria for the Special Covid-19 SRD grant…
- South African Citizen, Permanent Resident, Refugee, Asylum seeker;
- Residing within the borders of the Republic of South Africa;
- Above the age of 18;
- Unemployed;
- Not have an income of more than R595 per month;
- Not receiving any social grant;
- Not a NSFAS or UIF beneficiary
- Not in receipt of any other government COVID-19 response support; and
- Not a resident in a government funded or subsidized institution.
