The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa)  have announced  that its temporary disability and care dependency grants have been extended until December 31. Sassa says that the extension was for the grants that lapsed on the 1st of February this year.  

They have extended the period for the care dependency grant for children who turned 18 during this period. 

SASSA has encouraged Individuals who serve as beneficiaries to the temporary disability grants to visit their nearest local Sassa offices from January 5, 2021, to reapply should they feel their medical condition would still prevent them from working.
Caregivers of children are also urged to visit the local offices to reapply for disability grants for young adults. Beneficiaries need to know this will be a new application as temporary grants are only given for a specific period of time. 

 

“The minister of social development took the decision to extend them to December 31, 2020, in response to the declared state of disaster which made it difficult for beneficiaries to apply for social grants, especially those requiring medical assessments because of the limited access to health facilities.

Sassa said that for both grants, beneficiaries will have to bring along any clinical and medical records pertaining to the medical condition for which the applicant is applying. It said all Covid-19 precautionary measures are in place and it will endeavour to limit the time applicants have to spend in queues as far as practically possible.

 Courtesy letters informing beneficiaries of the lapsing of their social grants have already been posted. Affected beneficiaries are requested to respond to these letters as soon as they are able to do so.  Care givers of children whose Care Dependency Grants will lapse are not required to bring the children to SASSA Local Offices but should come to undertake the application process as the proxy for their children.