Sassa announces grant payment date changes for July

The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has created two payment tranches to ensure compliance with the disaster management regulations and to protect the vulnerable from the month-end rush.

The staggering of social grant payments will be implemented from next month.

Dates for July 

• Old Age Pension and Disability Grant payments will be made from 3 July, while
• Child Support, Foster Child and Care Dependency Grants will be paid from 6 July.
• Payment at cash pay points will commence on 7 July until 16 July.

Due to long queues during the lockdown in May, the Sassa grant payout days were changed to protect the elderly.

Disability grants, as well as those for the elderly were paid on the fourth, while others were paid on the sixth.

However, chaos ensued, including a situation in Dobsonville, Soweto, where a group of young people pushed the elderly out of the way to get to the pay points first.

“In response to this unpleasant experience, Sassa started consulting role players such as the National Treasury, South African Post Office, the banking association, retailers, and consumer goods council among others.

“What came out of the consultations were that people with disabilities and the aged needed to be protected from the month-end rush at payment outlets and therefore payment needs to be staggered in such a way that these categories of beneficiaries receive their grants before others.

“To effect this, Sassa will make use of two payment files. The first one will cover the aged and the disabled, while the second will cover all other grant types,” said Sassa CEO Busisiwe Memela.

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Additional reporting: The Citizen