My disability grant application was declined in June 2025 despite submitting all required documents. I have been medically boarded from work. Please help!

The long answer

If I understand you correctly, the date on the medical form is 10 March 2021: when you apply for a disability grant, you need to bring a medical report not older than three months. Could this perhaps be why the grant was declined?

When you go to SASSA with the medical report from your doctor, SASSA will want the doctors that they employ to examine you and see if they agree with your doctor’s report. SASSA says that only a doctor contracted by SASSA can conduct the assessment and they must submit a report to SASSA to say whether you qualify for a temporary or permanent disability grant or not. The assessment report is based both on the information presented to the doctor and the doctor’s own physical assessment. 

SASSA says that they will consider the facts in the report by the doctor and come to a decision on whether you meet the definition of a disabled person in terms of section 9(b) of the Social Assistance Act. Section 9(b) says, “A disabled person is, owing to a physical or mental disability, unfit to obtain by virtue of any service, employment or profession the means needed to enable him or her to provide for his or her maintenance.”

A 2017 GroundUp article gives a list of conditions that do not qualify for a disability grant. These are:

• If you are HIV-positive but are healthy and stable on your medication

• High blood pressure, well-controlled diabetes or asthma

• Aches and pains in your back, limbs, joints, or the rest of your body or chronic tiredness that is not associated with a medical diagnosis.

• Mild to moderate wasting of your arms and legs that does not stop you from moving around

• Gout, osteoarthritis, or rheumatoid arthritis that is well controlled and that does not stop you from doing your daily tasks

• Old healed fractures or injuries that do not stop you from doing your daily tasks.

But as a 2018 article on the Development Pathway website on social protection and disability points out, many of the medical doctors doing the assessments for SASSA do not have “adequate training or capacity to undertake assessments to the required standard”. They point out that the doctors doing the assessments are employed by the state, and they only receive administrative training from SASSA staff, which does not teach the doctors how to undertake assessments. As a result, these doctors may each be using their own criteria to make assessments and reach decisions.

But in the end, it is SASSA that makes the decision, not the doctor. SASSA must give written reasons for why the grant application was rejected and inform you that you have the right to appeal the decision within 90 days of receiving the rejection letter.

Below is a summary of a 2019 article by Grocotts Mail on how to appeal a SASSA decision:

The process:

• You have a right to appeal within 90 days of receiving your letter from SASSA declining your disability grant application, and giving reasons why;

• The appeal is conducted by the Independent Tribunal for Social Assistance Appeals;

• But before you can appeal to the Tribunal, you must use the internal SASSA appeal mechanism, which means you must submit a written “Application for Reconsideration” to SASSA; 

• SASSA will review your “Application for Reconsideration” within 30 days

• If SASSA does not reconsider, you must submit the following documents to the Tribunal:

1. Proof of your application;

2. Previous or current medical reports;

3. Proof of your income and assets;

4. The SASSA rejection letter. 

If the Tribunal does not reverse the SASSA decision, you can appeal to the Minister of Social Development in writing, explaining why you disagree. 

You can also file a complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC). The SAHRC says that disability is one of their seven focus areas to promote and protect human rights in South Africa.

Finally, you can also go to court to challenge it.

It may be worth asking advice from organisations such as the National Council of and for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD) and Disability info South Africa (DiSA), which represent the interests of all persons with disabilities in South Africa. 

The contact details for the NCPD are:

Tel: 011 452 2774

Email: [email protected]

“Disability info South Africa (DiSA) was started in 2015 by Alan Downey in Plumstead, Cape Town, to provide a Free One - Stop Information Service, which not only gives easy access to information via our website, but also through our free contact centre, offering advice and guidance to those in need.”

DiSA contact details: 

Email: [email protected] and [email protected]

Tel: 021 761 4831

Mobile and WhatsApp: 0845049176

You could also ask the Black Sash, which has a lot of experience with these issues, for help and advice. 

These are their contact details:

• Email: [email protected]

• Helpline: 072 66 33 73 or 072 633 3739 or 063 610 1865.

Wishing you the best,
Athalie