The R350 Social Relief of Distress Grant (SRD), which was made available to unemployed South Africans during the protracted lockdown period, has been extended by an additional three months.
Registered beneficiaries who have previously received payment should ensure their profiles are up to date, even though they are not required to reapply.

However, merely signing up does not ensure that you will be paid in the coming months.

The R350 Social Relief of Distress Grant (SRD) administered by the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has been extended for another three months to provide financial relief to those who have lost their jobs due to the lockdown. Recipients who are already on the system do not need to reapply.

The grant recently expired in January 2021, after more than R16 billion was paid to approximately 6.5 million monthly recipients since May of last year.

President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed that the grant would be extended during his State of the Nation Address on Thursday night, citing ongoing socioeconomic pressures brought on by lockdown regulations.

The sheer number of applications received last year put tremendous strain on Sassa’s administrative systems. Online systems were overloaded, and applicants complained that their rejections were “unfair”. In response to intense public pressure, the agency established an appeals procedure that aimed to reevaluate applications on an individual basis.

The most recent extension considers both the application and appeal processes, with Sassa clarifying that people who are already registered on the system – those who have been paid in the last nine months or who have already filed an appeal – do not need to reapply. If the applicant’s contact information or residential address changes, the profile must be updated through the SRD’s online portal.

Any SRD beneficiary is not required to visit nearby Sassa offices in order to take advantage of this extension. Following the abrupt termination of Temporary Disability Grants, which created a chaos at Sassa sites, the agency is desperately attempting to reduce lines and human contact at its offices.

All grant recipients who picked up their awards at the South African Post Office have also been advised by the agency to open bank accounts and update their deposit information via the SRD portal.

While applicants are not required to reapply, Sassa has stated that simply being on the system does not guarantee payment during the extension period. Instead, the agency will continue to evaluate applications on a monthly basis, as it has done since the SRD’s inception.

Additionally, the appeal period, which was originally scheduled to close on February 28, will be prolonged. If registered applicants who are denied the R350 grant over the following three months feel that their denial was unfair, they may file appeals. Re-appeals are not necessary for applicants who have already filed repeals.

Although Sassa is still working through a backlog of appeals, it has assured applicants who were approved in January but hadn’t yet received a payment that payments made through the mail, direct deposits, and mobile money transfers would still be honored.