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How Effective Are SASSA Social Grants In Alleviating Poverty In South Africa?
By all accounts poverty in South Africa is rampant while the SASSA stats show that the social grant system is failing to keep up.
Whilst, the Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana did recently announce a social grant payment increase, for 2022, this will unlikely be sufficient to keep up with inflation, leaving beneficiaries with less spending power.
Furthermore. the twin evils of growing unemployment and poverty are placing huge strain on government’s social grant system to helping the poor put food on the table.
The most Googled search term in 2021 was “SASSA Status Check” which confirms the increasing desperation for social grants in South Africa
Undoubtedly the situation would be even more dire had the social grant system not been implemented.
To add to the woes of the poor and destitute, Covid-19 came along and destroyed the income earning opportunities of many who added to the burden of the social grant system/
Furthermore, SASSA has been beset with incompetence and corruption which has caused even more trouble for the beleaguered social welfare system and taxpayer.
Below, these SASSA stats reflect how effective social grants have been in helping those South Africans who cannot survive without them.
Social Grant Increases For 2022
Table showing SASSA Social Grant increases announced by the Finance Minister for 2022.
| Type Of Grant | October 2022 | 01 April 2023 | 01 October 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old Age Grant (For Ages 60 to 74) | R1990 | R2070 | R2080 |
| Old Age Grant (For Ages 75+ Yrs) | R2010 | R2085 | R2110 |
| War Veterans Grant | R1990 | R2100 | R2110 |
| Disability Grant | R1990 | R2080 | R2090 |
| Care Dependency Grant | R1985 | R1985 | R2090 |
| Foster Care Grant | No Increase | R1110 | R1130 |
| Child Support Grant | No Increase | R500 | R510 |
| Grant In Aid | No Increase | R500 | R510 |
| Top-Up to CSG | R240 | R250 | R250 |
The above figures were extracted from the official SASSA website.
Food Poverty Line South Africa 2021
The national poverty lines below, were calculated by factoring in the minimum cost of basic food requirements combined with the consumption of basic services.
The huge number of people living below the poverty line in South Africa is indicative of the massive income inequality which is exacerbated by high unemployment.
Furthermore, youth unemployment is increasing at an alarming rate and was over 57% recently.
| Food Poverty Lines | Amount Per Person Per Month | % Of People Living Below This Line |
|---|---|---|
| Food Poverty Line | R624 | 25% |
| Lower Bound Poverty Line | R890 | |
| Upper Bound Poverty Line | R1335 | 55% |
Interpreting the Poverty Line Figures
- Living on the food poverty line of R624 per month would mean that the individual would have just about enough money to be able to afford the minimum required daily energy intake to survive,
- Anyone living on an amount of R890 per month in South Africa would be considered poor.
- Furthermore, the amount of R890 would include an amount for essential household items as well as the minimum amount of R624 needed for food to survive.
- Regarding the poverty lines, recently the poorest three provinces in South Africa were Limpopo, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
- The upper poverty line of R1,335 is higher than the minimum income of R3,500 which incentivises people to strive for gainful employment rather than sit at home.
Number Of Social Grant Recipients By Type Of Grant
The SASSA stats below demonstrate how the number of South Africans, who depend on the welfare grant system, is increasing year on year.
Furthermore, the unacceptably high levels of rising unemployment is putting the social grants system under immense strain.
| Type Of Grant | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old Age | 3,086,851 | 3,194,087 | 3,302,202 | 3,423,337 | 3,553,317 | 3,676,791 | 3,722,675 |
| War Veterans | 326 | 245 | 176 | 134 | 92 | 62 | 40 |
| Disability | 1,112,663 | 1,085,541 | 1,067,176 | 1,061,866 | 1,048,255 | 1,042,025 | 997,752 |
| Grant In Aid | 113,087 | 137,806 | 164,349 | 192,091 | 221,989 | 355,609 | 267,912 |
| Care Dependency | 126,777 | 131,040 | 144,952 | 147,467 | 150,001 | 273,922 | 150,151 |
| Foster Child | 499,774 | 470,015 | 440,295 | 416,016 | 386,019 | 154,735 | 309,453 |
| Child Support | 11,703,165 | 11,972,900 | 12,081,375 | 12,269,084 | 12,452,072 | 12,787,448 | 12,992,589 |
| Totals | 16,642,643 | 16,991,634 | 17,200,525 | 17,509,995 | 17,811,745 | 18,290,592 | 18,440,572 |
| Annual Growth | 4.46% | 2.1% | 1.23% | 1.8% | 1.72% | 2.69% | 0.81% |
The table above shows that the child support grant category has by far the largest number of grant recipients at around 13 million.
Furthermore, the stats above exclude all unemployed adults older than 18 years, of which there are estimated to be more than 10 million.
This is a dire situation which needs urgent attention from the government as the job crisis is only going to worsen the situation.
Real economic reforms need to be implemented urgently to boost the economy and create jobs which would be a more sustainable solution to eradicating poverty rather than increasing grants.
Ref: These SASSA stats were extracted from the official SASSA Government Statistics Website.
Number Of Social Grants By Province
| Region | Care Dependency Grant | Child Support Grant | Disability Grant | Foster Care Grant | Grant In Aid | Old Age Grant | War Veterans Grant | Totals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern Cape (EC) | 23,065 | 1,953,054 | 177,074 | 71,051 | 32,528 | 592,404 | 8 | 2,849,184 |
| Free State (FS) | 8,740 | 711,730 | 74,596 | 21,946 | 10,162 | 213,663 | - | 1,040,837 |
| Gauteng (GP) | 20,345 | 1,987,769 | 112,823 | 38,019 | 9,770 | 679,083 | 11 | 2,847,820 |
| KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) | 38,485 | 2,947,870 | 214,302 | 56,088 | 78,651 | 730,111 | 5 | 4,065,512 |
| Limpopo (LP) | 16,473 | 1,953,668 | 96,663 | 36,990 | 54,248 | 489,248 | 2 | 2,647,292 |
| Mpumalanga (MP) | 11,398 | 1,157,540 | 76,022 | 20,300 | 23,409 | 267,169 | - | 1,555,838 |
| Northern Cape (NC) | 5,782 | 326,810 | 48,228 | 9,882 | 18,296 | 93,726 | 1 | 502,725 |
| North West (NW) | 9,725 | 898,666 | 62,454 | 24,363 | 16,919 | 279,179 | 1 | 1,291,307 |
| Western Cape (WC) | 16,138 | 1,055,482 | 135,590 | 30,814 | 23,929 | 378,092 | 12 | 1,640,057 |
| Totals | 150,151 | 12,992,589 | 997,752 | 309,453 | 267,912 | 2,722,675 | 40 | 18,440,572 |
Percentage Of Social Grant Recipients By Province
The table below shows the percentage of grant recipients per province.
It’s clear to see that Limpopo and the Eastern Cape are the provinces who have the highest percentage of their respective province’s population depending on social welfare.
This could be an indication that they are the provinces with the most poverty, which conversely would indicate that the Gauteng and Western Cape are the provinces where people are less dependent on social grants.
Furthermore, these figures could also indicate where the provinces with lower numbers of their population depending on grants may offer more job opportunities as a result of better local economies.
| Region | Total Grant Recipients | Total Population (2020) | % Population On Social Grants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gauteng (GP) | 2,847,820 | 15,465,000 | 18.4% |
| Western Cape (WC) | 1,640,057 | 6,941,000 | 23.6% |
| North West (NW) | 1,291,307 | 4,070,000 | 31.7% |
| Mpumalanga (MP) | 1,555,838 | 4,689,000 | 33.2% |
| KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) | 4,065,512 | 11,519,000 | 35.3% |
| Free State (FS) | 1,040,837 | 2,945,000 | 35.3% |
| Northern Cape (NC) | 502,725 | 1,263,000 | 39.8% |
| Eastern Cape (EC) | 2,849,184 | 6,530,000 | 43.6% |
| Limpopo (LP) | 2,647,292 | 6,015,000 | 44.0% |
| Totals | 18,440,572 | 59,437,000 | 31.0% |
SASSA R350 SRD Grant Payment System Has Been Blighted By Fraud and Corruption
Despite Minister Zulu’s assurances of sweeping changes to SASSA’s welfare system to curb fraud and corruption of the R350 SRD grant payments, many will say they’ve heard this all before and don’t expect to see it stopped.
Whilst she confirmed that the entire R350 grant application process, up to payment, is managed electronically, with checks and balances in place to ensure that “ghost” beneficiaries aren’t able to apply, it remains to be seen whether the fraud and corruption of the SRD R350 payments will be stopped.
Instilling a culture of ethics in South Africa’s public service is a long way off, after it was revealed that around 16,000 government employees irregularly received the Covid-19 R350 Social Relief of Distress grant.
~ President Cyril Ramaphosa
Furthermore, to ensure that only legitimate beneficiaries who qualify for the R350 SRD payment can apply, the personal details of the applicant will go through a verification process at Department of Home Affairs.
Whilst SASSA’s IT capabilities have been strengthened to combat fraud, it was reported 177,000 public servants wrongfully applied and received the R350 grant.
This is currently being investigated, but the irony of the people who are employed to uphold a system to help the poor and needy steal from the very same system is totally shameful.
SASSA Stats On Corruption and Irregular Expenditure
SASSA Corruption
Corruption within the social welfare agency as well as outside has harmed the delivery of social grants to the people who need it most.
Whilst previous assurances were made by SASSA that no stone would be left unturned to root out corruption and stop maladministration…
And it’s been reported by News24 that R200m in grant payments have been reinstated to government workers.
Meanwhile all SASSA R350 beneficiaries have to re-apply for their grants
The amounts involved in the SASSA fraud, in some cases, is staggering as can be seen by some of the reported cases below.
- Over 61 000 social grant fraud cases have been reported on the SASSA fraud hotline – reported on 11 Oct 2021 on IOL
- Four SASSA officials appeared in court on charges of defrauding the agency of over R5.9m by capturing lump sum payments to fake beneficiary bank accounts – reported 15 Oct 2021 on News24
- ‘Mother of four’ charged with defrauding SASSA out of child grant cash over a period of 13 years – reported 22 March 2022 on Times Live
- SASSA investigating escalating fraud cases especially with respect to beneficiaries having unauthorised deductions on their new SASSA/Postbank cards & stolen as well as One pensioner having had at least three months worth of her R1,890 monthly pension stolen – reported 14 September on GroundUp
- 74 implicated in elaborate SASSA card scandal involving millions of Rands, say the Hawks – as reported on 7 April 2022 by the Times Live
- Even a SASSA boss, CEO Totsie Memela-Khambula, has been linked to R45.5m fraud – reported 1 February 2022 by M&G
- 4 Eastern Cape businessmen were arrested and prosecuted of defrauding the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) of more than R2 million – reported 8 November 2021 SANews
SASSA Reports That No Stone Will Be Left Unturned In the Fight Against Fraud
Whilst SASSA previously announced an active fraud prevention strategy as well as a zero tolerance approach to anyone involved in fraud, you have to laugh at the irony of this when the chief executive, Totsie Memela, is herself implicated in R45,5 million fraud case.
It would’ve been downright shameless of her if she’d already been involved (alledgedly) when she made this statement below.
“It is precisely because of the implementation of this strategy that the City of Johannesburg employees were identified. In addition, SASSA and the City of Johannesburg have been co-operating on this matter since July 2020” said CEO Totsie Memela (Ref: https://www.gov.za/speeches/sassa-leaves-no-stone-unturned-fight-fraud-social-grants-system-20-nov-2020-0000)
SASSA Irregular and Fruitless & Wasteful Expenditure Stats
| Expenditure | 2021 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Irregular Expenditure | R1,142,194,397 | R1,227,924,605 |
| Fruitless & Wasteful Expenditure | R87,313,454 | R86,429,571 |
| Totals | R1,229,507,851 | R1,314,354,176 |
Conclusion On These Alarming SASSA Stats
What these SASSA stats show, regarding the amount of South Africans living below the poverty line and desperate for social welfare grants, is that the system is unsustainable.
The rising rate of unemployed individuals, especially amoungst the youth, is the main driver of poverty in the country.
Furthermore, the social grant system is under extreme pressure to sustain the almost 19 million beneficiaries with a budget of R250 billion.
If addition Covid-19 benefits are added the system will be unable to sustain the increasing amount of applicants.
The struggle against rising poverty will be successful once economic opportunities can be accessed by people who are equipped with the skills to compete in the labour market, rather than depending on social welfare grants.
Whilst the social grant system is helping the poor and vulnerable survive, it is not helping to lift them out of the poverty trap.
The only way for government to reduce the dependency on social grants is to embark on a rapid economic growth program to create jobs.
SA is in desperate need for a much higher level of economic growth to realise a lower unemployment rate.
This will, therefore, lead to a far healthier economy and society by allowing individuals a higher feeling of self worth and dignity.
Whilst the SASSA stats above show that millions of poor and destitute South Africans are undoubtedly are managing to stave off hunger and poverty, the social welfare system is flawed judging by the amount of money that is lost to fraud.
Minister Zulu has promised to strengthen the social welfare application and payment system to root out fraud and corruption which will hopefully make more money available to help the people who need it most.