Statement: SASSA misrepresents drivers behind SRD grant application numbers

The Universal Basic Income Coalition (UBIC) disputes SASSA's claims that a 'spike' in SRD grant applications is driven by fraud. The document asserts that the 17.2 million applications in September 2024 are cumulative and align with eligibility estimates of approximately 17 million people. It argues that SASSA uses fraud narratives to justify an arbitrary budget cap from the National Treasury that only allows payments to 8.5 million people, while internal data shows very few actual fraud cases.

• The 17.2 million SRD grant applications reported for September 2024 do not represent a sudden spike, as applications are cumulative and re-assessed monthly. The increase since September 2023 is 1.8 million new applications, with only 55,000 added since July 2024.
• Application numbers align with various expert and government estimates of eligibility, which range from 16.5 million (Oxford, New Orleans, Cape Town and Stellenbosch researchers) to 18.3 million (estimates provided to the previous Minister for Social Development).
• SASSA's claims of widespread fraud are contradicted by its own data presented to a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee, which identified only 23 fraud cases for the SRD grant in Q1 2023 and a single case in Q1 2024.
• The exclusion of approximately 9 million eligible applicants is attributed to an arbitrary budget cap from the National Treasury that only permits payments to about 8.5 million people per month.
• SASSA employs 'draconian measures' to exclude beneficiaries under the guise of combating fraud, including facial recognition checks and algorithms using unknown third-party data.

APA

Institute for Economic Justice (2024). Statement: SASSA misrepresents drivers behind SRD grant application numbers. https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/statement-sassa-misrepresents-drivers-behind-srd-grant-application-numbers/

Chicago

Institute for Economic Justice. Statement: SASSA misrepresents drivers behind SRD grant application numbers. 2024. https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/statement-sassa-misrepresents-drivers-behind-srd-grant-application-numbers/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Institute for Economic Justice |title=Statement: SASSA misrepresents drivers behind SRD grant application numbers |date=9 October 2024 |url=https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/statement-sassa-misrepresents-drivers-behind-srd-grant-application-numbers/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{instituteforeconomicjustice2024statement, author = {{Institute for Economic Justice}}, title = {{Statement: SASSA misrepresents drivers behind SRD grant application numbers}}, publisher = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2024}, month = oct, url = {https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/statement-sassa-misrepresents-drivers-behind-srd-grant-application-numbers/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }