Payment glitches leave child support grant recipients stranded without money in January

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

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

The child support grant is R510 a month and 65% of children in South Africa receive the grant.

The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has denied 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 who 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 told GroundUp.

But Elizabeth Raiters, who heads up the help desk at #PayTheGrants, says that Sassa officials confirmed to her earlier on Tuesday that there was a “system error” and that the matter is being resolved. However, 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, Gauteng, on Monday evening. She estimated that thousands had been affected nationwide.

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

Black Sash Western Cape coordinator Thandi Hanekom told GroundUp there had been an uptick 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 recipients lined up to reapply after their grants were suspended.

According to Raiters, grants had 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. DM

First published by GroundUp