Question NW171 to the Minister of Social Development

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24 February 2021 - NW171

Profile picture: Opperman, Ms G

Opperman, Ms G to ask the Minister of Social Development

(a) What is the total number of grant dependent beneficiaries who did not receive any SA Social Security Agency payment in the Northern Cape in January 2021 due to their accounts not being credited, (b) who is the person responsible for the failure to credit the accounts of the grant recipients and (c) on what date will their accounts be credited?

Reply:

a) A total of 1 383 clients in the Northern Cape did not receive their grants in January 2021. These were clients whose grants were approved, but who failed the bank verification process. Every new applicant, or client who changes the method of payment provides SASSA with the bank account details. Once this is captured on the system, the information is subject to a bank verification process, to ensure that the grant is paid into the account which belongs to that client and that the account is open. Where the account fails the verification process, the account cannot be credited. This process is in place to ensure that the grant is paid to the right person.

b) The process is system driven and the failure may be as a result of incorrect information provided; the client providing the details of an account which is in their spouse’s name; the account being closed by the time the credit should be processed or errors made during capturing.

c) The accounts will be credited once the information on the system has been corrected. This is done by the clients being contacted and requested to bring in a copy of their bank statement so that the record can be updated. Once the record is corrected, the payment is extracted, and the account credited, during the next payment cycle. The amount credited will then include the amount from when the grant was approved, or from the date of the last payment, to ensure that the client is not prejudiced.

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