Sassa offers financial assistance to millions of people so they can pay their monthly essential living costs. Payment schedules for social grants awarded in December have been made public as November draws to a close.
Soon, beneficiaries of the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) will get their December social benefits. Millions of South Africans have benefited from Sassa’s financial support over the past few years.
Here is the December payment schedule for social grants:
- Older person’s grant: Thursday 1 December
- This includes any grants linked to this account
- Disability grant: Friday 2 December
- This includes any grants linked to this account
- Rest of the Sassa grants: Monday 5 December
Beneficiaries have three options for getting their grants: directly into their bank accounts, through the CashSend service, or by using their Sassa cards at merchant locations.
Sassa grant recipients can pick up their social grants at Pick & Pay, Shoprite, Boxer, Checkers, USave, or OK. These recipients won’t be charged anything when they swipe their Sassa cards at these retail locations.
Recipients are reminded that they do not need to collect their grant as soon as it becomes available because the money will remain in their account until they decide to use it. Waiting a few days to collect their social grant will ensure that they miss the long queues outside retail stores.
The rest of the grants include child support, foster care, grant-in-aid, and war veterans grants. These grants ensure that these individuals are able to buy some essentials to help them get through the month.
According to statistics, since 2019 around 18 million South Africans received social grants from Sassa. These individuals are either vulnerable to poverty or in desperate need of financial assistance.
The number of individuals requiring financial assistance increased due to the Covid-19 pandemic. During this time, many people lost their jobs or were unable to work, which meant that they desperately needed support from the government to stay afloat.
