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Chapter 7
Related Sections
1
INTRODUCTION
2
Laws that apply to social welfare
3
Types of social grants
4
SOCIAL GRANTS FOR ADULTS WHO ARE 18 YEARS AND OLDER
5
Who can apply for a grant?
6
How much money can you get (for social grants for adults over 18 years)?
7
The means test for adult social assistance grants
8
Who cannot get a grant?
9
Military Veterans Pension
10
SOCIAL GRANTS FOR CHILDREN BELOW THE AGE OF 18 YEARS
11
How much money can you get (for social grants for children below 18 years)?
12
Maintenance and social grants
13
Child Support Grant (CSG)
14
Foster Child Grant
15
Care Dependency Grant (CDG)
16
SOCIAL RELIEF OF DISTRESS GRANT
17
Who can apply for the Social Relief of Distress Grant?
18
Applying for the Social Relief of Distress Grant
19
COVID-19 Special Social Relief of Distress Grant (R370 GRANT)
20
APPLYING FOR A SOCIAL GRANT
21
Where can you apply?
22
When can you apply?
23
What can you use for proof of identity?
24
How do you apply for a grant?
25
Getting paid
26
When does the grant stop or lapse?
27
PRIVATE WELFARE AND SERVICE ORGANISATIONS
28
Child Welfare South Africa
29
Family and Marriage Society of South Africa (FAMSA)
30
National Institute for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of Offenders (NICRO)
31
PROBLEMS
32
Problem 1: Application for grant turned down
33
Problem 2: Not having a bank account
34
Problem 3: Bribery and social grants
35
Problem 4: Long delay in getting grant
36
Problem 5: Moving from one place to another
37
Problem 6: Applicant wants to apply for a Disability Grant and Child Support Grant but does not have the correct documents
38
Problem 7: Shops refuse to honour vouchers given as a Social Relief of Distress Grant
39
Problem 8: Person receiving an Older Person’s Grant needs full-time care
40
Problem 9: Getting a new power of attorney or procurator
41
Problem 10: Grant stops when not collected
42
Problem 11: SASSA pay point runs out of money
43
Problem 12: Applying for back pay
44
Problem 13: SASSA officers are rude to grant applicants
45
Problem 14: Foster Child Grant is terminated because social worker does not extend the foster child court order
46
Problem 15: Grant beneficiary’s circumstances change and she does not report this to SASSA
47
Problem 16: Grandmother is being paid to take care of a child
48
MODEL LETTERS
49
Model letter: Letter of appeal to SASSA
50
Model letter: Letter to the Regional SASSA office
51
Model letter: Application for Social Relief of Distress Grant
52
CHECKLISTS
53
Checklist: General questions about social grant applications
54
Checklist: Social grants for adults 18 years and older
55
Checklist: Child Support Grant
56
Checklist: If the person received a grant payment in the past but payment has stopped

Problem 4: Long delay in getting grant

“I applied for my grant four months ago and I have still not heard anything.”

If you do not hear anything after three months, you must go to the payout point or check your bank account to see if your money is there.

If your money is not there, you must take action. You can go to the SASSA officer and ask when the money will come and why it is taking so long.

You can write to the SASSA office at the provincial administration in your province, or you can write to the Director General or Minister of Social Development. In your letter you must ask for written reasons why your application has not been processed. Getting written reasons is your legal right. Always give your ID number (your grant number is often just your ID number.) You can get the help of a paralegal, but do not make another application.

While you are waiting and you cannot survive, you should be able to get some money or food for the months that you are waiting, from the office where you applied. This is called a Social Relief of Distress Grant. It will be deducted from your grant once you get it. Take your ID book and your receipt of the application with you to the office when you go to ask for relief. (See Social Relief of Distress grant)