LOCAL

The Social Security Agency (SASSA) says payments for the new round of Social Relief of Distress grants are expected to begin in mid-June.

It comes after over 10 million people, who applied to receive the new round of R350 grants in April, were not paid over the past two months.

The Social Development Department says the grant, which was extended in the February budget,  will be provided until March 2023.

Dr. Kelle Howson is a senior researcher at the Institute for Economic Justice.

“The grant needed to be moved from the National State of Disaster to new regulations when the State of Disaster ended. So, the process was seriously mismanaged and there was a complete lack of communication and transparency from the government in what was going on. So, in April, people expected to receive their grants as usual but towards the end of April SASSA and DSD announced that everybody who had been receiving the grants previously now needed to reapply. So, people who were receiving the grant aren’t necessarily going to receive it under the new criteria.”

SASSA spokesperson Paseka Letsatsi explains the reapplication process: 

Source: SABC news