I have been waiting five months to get my SRD payment date

The long answer

Marecia Damons, in a GroundUp article, explained that earlier in August, the Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu had gazetted changes to the rules applying to the R350 SRD grant. The change increased the income threshold for the means test from R350 per month to R624. This means that now people can earn up to R624 a month and still qualify for the R350 grant. 

It also means that people don’t have to confirm every three months that they still need the grant, which they had to do before, and they no longer have to answer questions to confirm that they are eligible for the grant.

But it seems that these changes, though welcome, have meant that there has been a delay of some two months in paying the grants. The Minister said SASSA had to negotiate with banks to perform means tests and verifications, and this held things up. SASSA faced “very serious challenges” in operating a new system under pressure. 

Ryan Cloete, in an article for Skills Portal on 22 September 2022, says that SASSA has asked SRD grant applicants to be patient if they do not see their pay dates, as it only means their payment has not yet been processed. But SASSA promised that the payments would be processed soon.

This is how you can check your SASSA balance:

1. Dial *120*69277# on your phone;

2. Follow each step

3. You should then get an SMS notification.

Wishing you the best,
Athalie