Minister of Social Development Dina Pule reported that 169,000 social grant beneficiaries have been flagged for further investigation after failing to respond to notifications requiring them to attend benefit checks.
This statement was made by Pule in a written response to parliament following an inquiry regarding the program to verify over 350,000 social grant recipients in the 2026/27 financial year.
The purpose of this verification program is to determine whether beneficiaries continue to meet the criteria for receiving grants. SASSA points to instances where recipients no longer qualify for payments, payments continue after the beneficiary's death, or contact with the recipient cannot be established due to outdated address or contact information.
Recipients were given 90 days
Pule clarified that beneficiaries are given a period of 90 days to appear for verification; those who do not appear may be flagged for further scrutiny. She stated: 'A total of 169,000 clients received notifications but did not attend the verification. Subsequently, they were flagged as potentially fraudulent transactions subject to further investigation.'
The Minister added that the checks revealed three common reasons for the cessation of payments: a change in circumstances rendering the beneficiary ineligible; continued payments after the recipient's death; and the inability to locate the beneficiary due to outdated contact or address information.
The verification program targets 352,000 beneficiaries during the 2026/27 financial year, with 105,508 verifications conducted in the first quarter. Pule noted that the first quarter checks focused exclusively on child care grant beneficiaries, representing the latest group identified through SASSA's risk-based data analysis.
SASSA continues to conduct risk analysis to determine the number of disability and old age grant beneficiaries who will be included in the remaining verifications until March 2027.
Provincial targets indicate that KwaZulu-Natal has planned the highest number of verifications—72,187, followed by Gauteng with 62,656 and Limpopo with 44,530. The Western Cape has a target of 42,627 verifications, while the Eastern Cape plans for 44,119. Mpumalanga is targeting 32,143, North West 23,827, Free State 20,267, and North Cape 9,644. Pule emphasized that 'beneficiaries are given 90 days during which they are required to appear for the grant verification process.'