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South Africans urged to collect approved Social Relief of Distress grant

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Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu has called on South Africans who haven’t collected their approved Social Relief of Distress grant to collect it before the end of the month. Zulu says everybody must re-apply for the second round, even if they qualified and received grants the first time.  More than half a million grants have not yet been collected from Post Office branches. Zulu was speaking to SABC Newson Thursday.

More than half a million grants have not yet been collected from Post Office branches.

Zulu says everybody must re-apply for the second round, even if they qualified and received grants the first time.

She says the new applications will be effective from the 6th of August – provided the qualifying criteria are met.

“This requirement will be confirmed through the monthly validations of every application. It is important to note that there will be no automatic qualification – all applications must satisfy the criteria and will be subjected to the entire validation process,” says Zulu.

Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu briefs media on COVID-19 social relief measures

Meanwhile, the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa), says the closing of some Post Office branches poses a challenge as it prepares to again administer the R350 grant.

Destitute South Africans can begin applying for the Social Relief of Distress grant on Friday. The Post Office says not everyone has bank accounts to receive the distress grant – but Sassa is making other plans to ensure that beneficiaries can still get the money.

Sassa Executive Manager, Dianne Dunkerly, says long queues to get the grant at Post Office branches are not acceptable during the pandemic.

“They have certainly closed some branches and those branches are in close proximity with other branches or other payment infrastructure. This is why it is so important for that we look at alternative channels. One of the major things we will be focusing on is to see how we are able to make payment elsewhere. We need to appreciate that not everybody has a bank account and there needs to be an alternative for those people who don’t have bank accounts and that is where our partnership with Post Office come very strongly,” says Dunkerly.

The Watchdog | R350 COVID-19 relief grant: 04 August 2021

Source: SABC


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