Sassa extends deadline

SASSA is appealing to more than 200 000 potential temporary disability grant applicants who failed to make the December deadline to urgently apply for the grants.

The announcement on Sunday came after the DA’s spokesperson on social development, Bridget Masango, threatened to urgently write to the chairperson of the portfolio committee on social development, Mondli Gungubele, to request a meeting to deal with the looming disability grant crisis.

Masango wanted Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu to explain how her department intends to handle the disability grant crisis, and provide a guarantee that the grant reassessment deadlines will be extended at least until March 2021.

Temporary disability grants that were supposed to lapse from February 2020 were extended to December 31, in order to cushion affected beneficiaries against the pressures brought about by the State of National Disaster and the subsequent lockdown. The cost of continuing these grants totalled in excess of R1.5 billion.

Sassa spokesperson Paseka Letsatsi said government would now have to spend an additional R1.2bn to continue the payment of the grants until the end of March 2021.

A disability grant is given, in terms of the Social Assistance Act, to citizens who are unable to work as a result of their disability or medical condition.

Affected citizens are requested to report to their nearest Sassa office, with a detailed referral report from their treating doctor, which confirms the impact of the medical condition or disability, Letsatsi added.

The new grant may be temporary or permanent.

[email protected]