The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has clarified its intensified social grant reviews and verification measures, saying these are necessary to protect the integrity of the social assistance system and prevent fraudulent payments.
The agency issued the statement on Friday following media reports about money paid to beneficiaries who were allegedly not eligible to receive social grants during the 2025/2026 financial year.
SASSA also acknowledged issues raised before the Portfolio Committee on Social Development on Wednesday, 7 October 2026, and welcomed continued scrutiny of the administration of public funds.
The agency said social assistance is a constitutional obligation and a critical safety net for millions of vulnerable South Africans but stressed that the system needs to be protected against fraud, abuse, errors, misrepresentation and payments to people who no longer qualified for assistance.
“The integrity of the social grants system cannot be protected by avoiding reviews simply because reviews may be uncomfortable or inconvenient,” SASSA said.
Criticism
SASSA said the reviews and eLife certification measures had attracted criticism from some sections of society and interest groups, amid concerns that the interventions were intended to exclude legitimate beneficiaries.
The agency rejected these concerns, saying the processes were designed to establish whether beneficiaries continued to meet the prescribed eligibility requirements.
“A social grant is not an unconditional entitlement that continues irrespective of changes in a beneficiary's circumstances. Beneficiaries have a responsibility to inform SASSA when circumstances that may affect their eligibility change,” the agency said.
These changes include income, employment, marital status, banking details, residential circumstances and other material personal circumstances.
SASSA said reviews were an important administrative and control mechanism to verify whether beneficiaries remained eligible for the grants they received.
The agency added that beneficiaries who legitimately qualified for social assistance should not fear processes intended to verify their continued eligibility.
eLife certification and biometric enrolment
SASSA said it had also intensified eLife certification to establish whether beneficiaries were still alive and were the legitimate recipients of social assistance.
The process seeks to prevent public funds from being paid where a beneficiary has died, where there is uncertainty about their continued existence, or where another person may be unlawfully accessing the grant.
“Social grants reviews and eLife certification are therefore not designed to arbitrarily terminate grants. They are a control mechanism intended to confirm the continued existence and eligibility of beneficiaries and to prevent fraudulent payments,” SASSA said.
Another intervention is Beneficiary Biometric Enrolment, which the agency said would strengthen identity verification and improve the security of social grant transactions.
The process forms part of broader efforts to reduce opportunities for impersonation and fraudulent transactions, while ensuring that grants reach their rightful recipients.
SASSA said the measures were particularly important given the substantial public resources managed by the social assistance system and the millions of beneficiaries it serves.
The agency maintained that it could not rely indefinitely on historical information, as systems, identities, personal circumstances and payment arrangements changed over time.
“Controls must therefore evolve accordingly,” SASSA said. – SAnews.gov.za
