Many amandla.mobi members helped put pressure on President Ramaphosa to bring back the R350 grant and at least include unemployed caregivers. The return of the R350 grant in July 2021 saw the improved eligibility criteria, with unemployed caregivers qualifying for the grant. However, many many amandla.mobi members reported problems applying for the grant.
Because of all the issues raised regarding the R350 grant system, we conducted a survey to understand and find out if the problems are new or if grant recipients have experienced the same with other social grants.
Some of our key findings from our Social grants survey:
- SASSA still lacks with communication with grant recipients
Meanwhile, one of the most frequent issues raised in our R350 Grant Survey and Social Grants Survey was the problem with communication from SASSA. Some grants were terminated without any communication, while others were unable to get answers when seeking help or information. One respondent even said:
“I was one of the caregivers who did not get child support without any type of communication this month [October].”
“They should send people to go door to door for old, sick and disabled people.”
- The current grant amounts are not enough
The respondents also indicated that the current grant amounts are not enough and regularly have to sacrifice some basic needs over the others. While they can barely afford food, they find themselves sacrificing needs such as medication, school supplies, clothing, and even buying electricity.
“Dear SASSA CEO and Minister of Social Development, can you please assist with increasing the Child Support Grant, please. Most caregivers depend on it. They are not working, so increasing the grant will be highly appreciated.”
“I think Sassa social grant should be increased because other families use the money for living. And the current amount which children receive does not suit all their needs since things are expensive. We plead to the government to increase the grant since other parents are unemployed and do not qualify for the SRD grant due to certain circumstances.”
- The grant system could use some improvements
Some respondents complained about getting their grants late, especially after grant payout dates were changed due to COVID-19.
“They must improve their system. I’m tired of receiving the grant on the second week of every month because I’m using this grant to eat with my family….”
“We’ve been waiting for the food parcels for months now. Can they please process things a bit faster coz some of us depend on the food parcels since the grant is never enough.”
More information about the survey can be found below:
- More than ninenty percent of the respondents are child grant beneficiaries.
The below graph shows that the Child Support Grant remains the biggest social grant in the country, with a growing need daily.
Graph 1: The above graph shows the different social grants.
- Most child grant beneficiaries are unemployed.
Our R350 grant survey results found that most unemployed caregivers were rejected for the grant. The below graph shows.
Graph 2: The above graph shows the number of employed and unemployed caregivers.
- Nearly forty percent of the respondents said that they have experienced issues with their grants. One child grant beneficiary claimed that:
“In 2014, I lost my ID, and it was at a time when SASSA was renewing the grant system. We had to take the kids for fingerprints. After I got my ID book, I went to apply for the grant, and I was told that I was under investigation, and they don’t know how long it would take. I didn’t receive the grant for six years for two children.
When I got it again, hoping that I would get the previous balance SASSA did not give me for six years, they told me they don’t pay the outstanding for the previous years, and my daughter was no longer qualifying for the grant was not working then. I was frustrated with our government system.”
Some grant recipients claimed that:
“My mother has applied for foster care grant three years back for my late sister’s kids, but she has not been able to get get the money till now.”
“Trying to get old age and child grant. I was declined last year for child grant. I haven’t heard about my old age grant as yet… I can’t find a way to contact SASSA to reply.”
When asked what their message was to the SASSA CEO and Minister of Social Development, some respondents said:
“I suggest that SASSA increase the grant (CSG) money because most caregivers depend on it….”
“Sassa should increase social grants.”
“They must improve the social grants system.”
“I don’t know, maybe put the money in our accounts even for our grandparents to minimise this long queue thing and be able to get it any time of the month.”
“I would like for them to know that the money barely covers anything.”
So, what can SASSA do differently?
There’s no properly fixing the R350 grant system if the social grants system is still lacking. Sassa and DSD must act urgently to address and fix the issues.
Sassa and the Department of Social Development must:
- Have consistent payout dates
- Improve communication with grant recipients/beneficiaries
- Increase all grants beyond the upper poverty line
- Make the grant system more efficient and user friendly, both online and offline
*Please note that all quotes have been slightly edited for brevity and clarity.
Technical note: The above results are mostly drawn from the results of our social grants survey, which is still live and can be found here: https://amandla.wgdev.co.za/grant-survey/. For the latest and most up to date figures view the survey results page here [Link to embedded results page]. The survey results should refresh at least once a week to show new responses as more people complete the surveys. The data on unemployed caregivers who applied for the R350 grant, now that they are included in the eligibility criteria, was drawn from disaggregated data from our other social grants survey, which is also still live and can be found here: https://amandla.wgdev.co.za/350-survey/. The latest live results of that survey can be found here https://amandla.wgdev.co.za/results-of-r350-survey-show-sassa-must-act/. The survey could be completed via our mobi site, but we also provided methods of completing the survey through mobile for those with no data, or even airtime. Please note that we only had technical capacity to publish generic survey results, and that the above data on unemployed caregivers was specifically disaggregated and analysed manually. The same applies to the UIF survey responses. The manually analysed data is not live, and was taken from the data set as of 3 December 2021. We are a small organisation with limited capacity and funding. However, if you would like to request more up-to-date data or offer research methodology suggestions, do feel free to contact us at hola (at) amandla.mobi, and we will do our best to respond to you.
