Pretoria - Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini has moved to allay fears that there will be disruptions in the paying of social grants during the process to re-register more than 15 million social grant beneficiaries in the country.
Earlier this week, the Social Protection and Community Development Cluster announced that the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) would be embarking on a major project to re-register social grant beneficiaries.
The move is aimed at ridding the system of corruption and ensuring that social grants are paid to the right people.
On Friday, Dlamini emphasised that the process was not meant for registering new beneficiaries but to verify the identy of existing beneficiaries.
"It is important to highlight that government seeks to use the process to eliminate fraud and corruption and create a conducive environment for SASSA to have a solid database of all beneficiaries, which can enable it to pay grants on behalf of government in the future," Dlamini explained.
The process will be completed in two phases, with the first phase starting on 1 March and ending in May.
"During this period, particularly from 1 April 2012, beneficiaries should continue to collect their grants at their respective pay points including banks ... new beneficiaries will be enrolled on to the new biometric-based payment system as from 1 March 2012 at SASSA local offices upon application," she explained.
During the second phase - from 1 June to 31 December - existing eligible beneficiaries, including bank beneficiaries and children, will be enrolled on the new biometric-based payment system at SASSA pay points, local offices and designated sites.
SASSA is to conduct home visits during this period to accommodate beneficiaries over 75 years of age, bedridden beneficiaries at their homes and institutions such as hospitals.
With the new system, beneficiaries will be issued with a SASSA-branded smart card which they can use anywhere in the country. "For many beneficiaries, this will be a dream come true... The system will allow the right person to be paid the right amount and be enrolled within close proximity of the communities where they live."
Dlamini reminded beneficiaries to bring their IDs and existing SASSA-branded cards, when re-registering. She warned that no one would be re-registered without these documents.
Beneficiaries of the child support grant will be required to bring their babies, along with their birth certificates. Fingerprints will be taken of the child to verify his or her identity.
Dlamini warned that apart from the child's birth certificate and fingerprints, there were no other ways of verifying the child's identity. The department will be working with the Home Affairs Department to check and confirm if the child belongs to the mother.
SASSA also has interfaces with the Home Affairs system, which will enable them to easily get information, such as if a beneficiary has died.
SASSA CEO Virginia Peterson said 686 000 beneficiaries had been "lost" in the system and they would be following up on them. This included people who had died or moved to another province, for example.
She said the cost for the entire process to re-register beneficiaries was about R15 million, which included the upgrading of the call centres where people can call 0800 601011 if they have problems or want more information.
A rigorous information campaign will be run by SASSA to educate and mobilise beneficiaries, community members and organisations about the new system.
