SASSA offers a variety of grants to support vulnerable groups in South Africa to improve their livelihoods in the face of the rising cost of living. Millions of Africans have received SASSA grants over the years to help them through difficult times.
When you apply for a SASSA grant, the agency reviews your application to ensure you are eligible to receive financial assistance, but in some cases the agency may refuse your grant application. At the moment, Africans can appeal SASSA’s decision, let’s see how SASSA’s appeal works and how you can appeal yours.
SASSA appeal
The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) offers grants such as Elderly Grants, Disability Grants, SRD Grants, Child Support Grants and many more for Africans to get the help they need from the agency.
Africans who have applied for or already received a scholarship receive a monthly payment under SASSA scholarships. However, in some cases, a SASSA grant claim may be refused for some applicants or people who are already receiving a grant based on the following factors:
- You are no longer eligible for SASSA support, for example your earnings are above the income threshold, etc.
- Your information in the SASSA support application is incomplete or invalid and others
If you have also received a SASSA grant rejection notice from the agency, you can appeal SASSA’s decision if you think it was an unfair rejection or if you disagree with the agency’s reasons for your eligibility.
SASSA recipients or applicants should file an appeal against SASSA’s decision within 30 days of receiving notice of disapproval from the agency.
How can you make your SASSA appeal?
South Africans who have applied for a SASSA scholarship or have received a notice of termination of their current SASSA scholarship can appeal the agency’s decision as follows:
- You should go to the official SASSA website at
- Then go to the Complaints section of the website, enter your South African ID and application number.
- Then click the Send PIN button to receive the PIN to your registered mobile number.
- Once you have received your PIN, you must enter the appropriate PIN on the website and proceed with your SASSA appeal.
- Then you need to select the appeal month for which you want to appeal and select the appeal reason from various reasons such as technical errors, change of circumstances etc.
- Once you have selected the reason for your appeal, click the Submit Appeal button in the application section.
- You will receive a message confirming that your SASSA appeal has been submitted on the SASSA portal.
What happens after you make a SASSA complaint?
After making a SASSA appeal, the authority will monitor your claim. If the authority finds that your appeal is valid and that you are eligible to receive the grant, the agency will process your payment, however, if the agency finds that you are still not eligible to receive the payment, the authority will send you a notice with the appropriate reasoning.
According to SASSA’s appeals procedure, the authority may take 90 days to respond to your appeal and provide you with the outcome of your appeal. The agency is working to improve the time it takes to respond to a SASSA appeal given that people may suffer due to the lengthy process.
The agency calls on recipients to be patient and wait for the authorities’ response to their appeal. SASSA recipients can also track the status of their appeal to know what is happening with their appeal.
How can you check the status of your SASSA appeal?
SASSA recipients can check the status of their SASSA appeal on the official website and stay updated in the following ways:
- You can visit the above official SASSA portal,
- Now click the Check Complaint status listed in the home page header.
- Now provide your SASSA appeal number, South African ID card and your contact number.
- You will receive an OTP on your registered mobile, enter the OTP or PIN to view the appeal status.
- The results will show you the status in three terms, appeal pending, appeal denied or appeal approved.
Reasons for rejecting SASSA’s appeal
Recipients should know the reasons why their SASSA appeals may be rejected in order to avoid such mistakes, such as:
- Your information is incorrect and does not have sufficient evidence to confirm the information,
- Your scholarship age is not applicable or does not match your record.
- Your identity verification is incomplete which may create confusion or doubt about your identity,
- You have not provided sufficient evidence in support of your SASSA application requirements that do not confirm your eligibility for scholarships.
Can you re-apply after a SASSA appeal has been rejected?
Yes, SASSA recipients or applicants can re-apply for a SASSA appeal even when the appeal has been refused, however, recipients should be sure that they are eligible to receive the grant.
The applicant must thoroughly check SASSA’s reasons and understand if they are indeed ineligible for support and if they still find some problems, they should appeal to get proper support from SASSA with proper supporting documents.
If you are in doubt, you can consult legal advice or community help to get the necessary clarifications about the SASSA appeal process and the reason for rejection.
A drop in SASSA grants may occur due to changes in policy and conditions, so Africans receiving SASSA assistance should keep abreast of changes.
