About 330 000 recipients eligible for assistance during the first cycle of the SRD grant have still not collected it.
This number increased during the second payment cycle of the SRD grant where 442 000 beneficiaries between August 2021 and March 2022, have also not claimed their money
South African Social Services Agency (Sassa) Spokesperson Paseka Letsatsi says that the money from the first cycle was set to be returned to the treasury.
However Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu moved to ensure that the unclaimed money would be available to beneficiaries.
Letsatsi says that a range of factors may have led to people not collecting their grants.
These include the loss of phone numbers, changing of phone numbers which may have led to them not receiving an SMS notifying them that their money is available.
“Unfortunately in some instances you find that there is a person who might have used a cellphone of somebody else and in this instance, the person may have moved out of the community and so on” explained Letsatsi.
He added that some people did not provide their banking details. Banking details are used by Sassa to ensure that benefits do not have other income which would disqualify them from receiving the SRD grant.
“Hence we are appealing to people, that please come forward and collect what is due to you” declared Letsatsi.
Many people have also complained that the call centre is not an effective avenue to get feedback from Sassa. Letsatsi says that more call centre agents have been hired to ensure that all clients are helped.
“Yes in some instances it might take a little bit longer but please be patient, interact with us, we need to make sure that when you drop that phone we have resolved your matter,” said Letsatsi.
