SASSA's digital system praised as pensioners struggle with income verification
THE parliamentary portfolio committee on social developmemnt has lauded KwaZulu-Natal's Region of SASSA for its biometric registration and digital income verification that is aimed at tightening the net against fraudulent grant payouts but some grant recipients are complaining of being wrongfully profile for undeclared extra income by the system.
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THE South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) KwaZulu-Natal regional is undergoing digital income verification and biometric registration of more than 100 000 social grant beneficiaries, which is aimed at tightening the net on fraud.
The Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Social Development, which was in the province this week, praised KwaZulu-Natal's SASSA for modernising its operations.
The committee began its week-long oversight visit to KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday with a briefing from SASSA officials at the Ilembe District Municipality offices. During the engagement, regional manager Thamo Mzobe detailed the strides made in implementing the Beneficiary Biometric Enrolment (BBE) system, which went live across all 82 local offices on 1 September 2025.
Mzobe said 901 officials had been trained to operate the system, with 748 already migrated to the BBE platform. Each office, she added, has been equipped with biometric fingerprint scanners to enhance the security and efficiency of the grant registration process.
She also outlined progress in SASSA’s ongoing digital income verification process, which aims to ensure that only qualifying individuals receive social grants. A team of 38 officials has been assigned to review cases flagged for possible irregularities, including those involving multiple bank accounts or unreported sources of income.
“So far, 77,287 cases have been reviewed, representing a 77% completion rate, and the remaining 107,541 are expected to be finalised by the end of the financial year,” Mzobe said.
Committee chairperson Bridget Masango commended the agency’s efforts, saying the digital upgrades demonstrated progress in improving transparency and efficiency within the country’s social assistance framework.
“The engagement opened our eyes to the legal and regulatory framework that enables the work of government to happen. We can really see the progress and can imagine what more is possible,” Masango said following a site visit to the SASSA office in Stanger, where MPs interacted with frontline staff.
The committee continued its programme mid-week with a public engagement meeting at the Lindiwe Tshabalala Hall in Mandeni, providing a platform for beneficiaries, carers, traditional leaders and civil society groups who shared their experiences and raised concerns about social assistance services in the province.
The vetting system has impacted many social grant recipients, especially pensioners who get allowances from their children and relatives.
Some pensioners claim they can't survive solely on their grants, yet even little regular amounts of cash sent to their bank accounts see their social grant profiles flagged for extra income, thereby kicking them out of the system.
"We can't survive on the grant alone. My children send me some money to help with transport and groceries, yet SASSA says I have an extra income.
"My municipality bill alone far exceeds my grant. Without the money my children send me, I'd die from hunger," said one grant recipient from New Germany.-Additional reporting Tribune Correspondent