What SASSA’s biometric checks mean for your social grant

Advocacy group Black Sash has again warned that SASSA’s drive to verify social grant recipients through biometric and data checks may leave eligible beneficiaries without access Advocacy group Black Sash has again warned thatSASSA’sdrive to verify social grant recipients through biometric and data checks may leave eligible beneficiaries without access to essential support. IOL previously reported that theagency has reviewed 240,000 social grants so far, suspending 70,000 due to non-compliance, as part of its verification and biometric checks to ensure that only eligible beneficiaries receive support and to prevent fraud. The agency also said that it has saved around R44 million per month, or, through the review process, which includes cross-checks with institutions such as SARS, credit bureaus, and NSFAS to verify beneficiaries’ eligibility.

Black Sash said the verification and biometric checks could prevent eligible beneficiaries, such as children, older persons, and people with disabilities, from receiving social grants if they are unable to comply with the new requirements. “Longstanding social grants for children, older persons, and people with disabilities are also under threat. New verification and biometric systems risk excluding the most vulnerable while addressing only a tiny fraction of fraud cases.

At the same time, funding for the Presidential Employment Stimulus, which has provided over 2.5 million work and livelihood opportunities since 2020, is being reduced,” Black Sash said. “Public employment programmes like the PES, alongside social grants, are essential for communities to survive and for local economies to thrive”. The advocacy group added that the government should urgently simplify application and verification processes, and increase grant values to meet basic living costs. “The Basic Income Support grant has the potential to transform not just individual lives, but the economy as a whole.