sassa meaning 2023-2024

The South African Social Security Agency has officially explained what it means when it refers to “Alternative Income” for the R350 award, in case you were unclear about what it meant before.

You may be aware that the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has rejected applications for the R350 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant because the applicant had a “Alternative Income Source.”

This means that SASSA found that the applicant’s monthly bank account balance exceeded R595. The applicant is therefore not qualified for the R350 grant.

The Social Assistance Standards and Assessment Agency (SASSA) defines income as “any source of income as defined in regulation 19 of the Social Assistance Regulations, 2008, and includes any form of donation or other financial support or financial assistance received by the applicant of not more than R595 as per the food assistance regulations.”

This means that your application for an SRD grant will be rejected if your monthly income is greater than R595. This is so because the R350 SRD stipend was established to aid jobless individuals who are unable to locate employment as a result of the Covid-19 epidemic.

You are ineligible for the SRD grant if you have “income” as defined by SASSA.

Each month, SASSA evaluates SRD grant applications to make sure that beneficiaries still match the requirements for the R350 grant; if they don’t, their application will be rejected. SASSA will explain why an application was rejected.

The following criteria must be met in order to qualify for the Special Covid-19 SRD grant:

a citizen of South Africa, a permanent resident, a refugee, or an asylum seeker who resides in the Republic of South Africa and is older than 18;

having a monthly salary of less than R595,
being unemployed
You are not a beneficiary of the NSFAS or UIF; you do not receive any social aid.
You are not a resident of a facility that is supported or subsidized by the government, and there is no other government funding for the COVID-19 response.

You can submit an R350 grant appeal if you think SASSA erred. After being told of the reason your application was denied, you have 30 days to appeal.

How to Make an Online SASSA Relief Grant Request