CAPE TOWN - Sassa grants payouts have changed as of May 2020.
Grant collection days were changed since the national lockdown came into effect, due to the spread of Covid-19.
According to South African Social Security Agency, lessons learnt from the last payment cycle during the lockdown have compelled Sassa to review the payment dates going forward.
As from the month of May 2020 Disability and Older Persons Grants will be paid from the 4th day of the month. All other grants will be paid from the 6th of every month.
The grant payment for April 2020 was brought forward to the 30 March 2020 and the first two days were dedicated to people with disabilities and older persons to ensure compliance with the State of Disaster requirements.
Impatient child support grant beneficiaries could not wait for the 1st of April and descended upon payment channels as early as 30 March.
"This posed all sorts of health challenges and it became difficult at some stores and ATM’s to maintain social distancing", according to a statement.
The organisation cited "a nasty scene" at the Dobsonville shopping centre in Soweto where a group of youngsters were captured on video pushing older people in order to access payment first.
In response to this unpleasant experience, Sassa started consulting role players such as National Treasury, South African Post Office, the banking association, retailers, and the consumer goods council among others.
"What came out of the consultations is that people with disabilities and the aged need to be protected from the month end rush at payment outlets and therefore payment needs to be staggered in such a way that these categories of beneficiaries receive their grants before others", the statement said.
To effect this Sassa will make use of two payment files. The first one will cover the aged and the disabled while the second payment file will cover all other grant types.
Some older persons use one card to also receive child support and foster child grants. In such cases they will be able to access all linked grants from the 4th of every month.