Sassa offers relief to temporary disability grant recipients during Covid-19 lockdown
Beneficiaries who have not received their grants will be prioritised.
As the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) offices are closed during lockdown, it posed a challenge for beneficiaries whose grants expired in March as they were unable to re-apply at Sassa offices.
In a recent statement, Sassa said to deal with this unintended consequence of the lockdown it is providing social relief of distress in the form of food parcels to beneficiaries whose disability grants expired in March 2020 as an interim measure to cushion the impact of the termination of the grant benefit.
The situation will be fully remedied for those grants expiring in April because ministerial directions issued on March 30 enable continued payment of temporary disability grants throughout the lockdown period.
ALSO READ: What you need to know when applying for a Sassa grant
Temporary disability grants have a lifespan of 12 months and beneficiaries have to re-apply after the prescribed period. In 12 months there is a possibility that a medical condition might have improved to the extent that it does not require continuation of temporary disability grants.
Grant beneficiaries who did not receive their grants for whatever reason will be prioritised. Preference will be given to citizens who are not receiving support from any other source, to ensure that the limited resources reach as many citizens as possible.
Social relief of distress requires an application process. During the declared state of disaster, applications will be done telephonically via the Sassa KZN regional office at 033 846 3400 and Sassa KZN WhatsApp at 071 6071514.
The forms which have been circulating on social media and other platforms will not be accepted from the public because applications are done telephonically and only an authorised Sassa official completes the forms.
Provincial joint operations centres and the Department of Social Development are coordinating the issuing of food parcels at food distribution centres to alleviate the impact of the lockdown.
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