Question NW1543 to the Minister of Social Development
02 September 2020 - NW1543
Zungula, Mr V to ask the Minister of Social Development
Whether she will (a) disclose the variance in the grant collections before the start of the lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19 on 26 March 2020, and grant collections during the specified lockdown, (b) give an explanation of the reason(s) for the decline and/or increase variance in the collection of grants before the lockdown and during the lockdown and (c) highlight the regions where a huge decline in grant collections were experienced; if not, why not, in each case; if so, what are the relevant details in each case?
Reply:
a) On a monthly basis for the period prior to lockdown, approximately 0,5% of all grants paid are not collected.
The table below shows the number of SASSA accounts credited every month, the number of grants collected and the number not collected for the month prior to lockdown, and the months after lockdown.
|
Transfers into SASSA Card |
||||
|
Month |
Number of |
Number of |
Number of grants not collected |
% Not collected |
|
Mar-20 |
8,066,894 |
8,028,568 |
38,326 |
0.5 |
|
Apr-20 |
8,100,671 |
7,993,672 |
106,999 |
1.3 |
|
May-20 |
8,109,539 |
8,061,907 |
47,632 |
0.6 |
|
Jun-20 |
8,144,519 |
8,101,019 |
43,500 |
0.5 |
b) The increase in the number of uncollected grants in April was due to level 5 lockdown, where many beneficiaries were reluctant to leave their homes to access the grants.
The decrease in the number of uncollected grants in May and June is believed to be as a result of the relaxation of lockdown rules.
c) SASSA experiences non-collection of grants on monthly basis. The table belowindicates the top three(3) regions that experienced the highest number of decline in the collection of grants from March 2020 (before Covid-19 and lockdown) and April to June 2020 (during lockdown)
In April the high decline is caused by the total shutdown due to level 5 lockdown, beneficiaries were afraid to leave their homes to collect their grants
In May, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng remained with the highest number of grants not collected even though the number declined. Western Cape is the third highest due to the increase in the number of COVID-19 positive cases.
In June,the above provinces remained the highest but the overall number of grants not collected has reduced.