• SASSA issued a statement explaining its grant approval process and what certain application statuses mean.
• The agency says it checks whether an applicant is employed, has an SA ID number and verifies banking details before approving grants.
• Checking the status of your SASSA SRD grant is simple online and all you need is an ID and phone number.

There is a “process” that has to be followed in order for your R350 Social Relief Distress Grant (SRD) to be approved, says the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) in Mpumalanga.

The SRD grant is highly requested. It was implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic to assist people who lost their livelihoods as a result of strict lockdown measures. In January alone, EWN reported, that SASSA received over 13 million applications to receive SRD grants, mostly from Limpopo, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

The process to receive the grant begins with SASSA verifying that the applicant does not receive an income. The agency also outlined what an application status means, namely that if your SASSA application is “still pending” when you check its status, it means that the application has not yet been approved.

SASSA also makes several checks to verify if an applicant should receive their SRD grant.

“The applicants must be aware that the agency does not only verify banking details but it also verifies citizenship with the Department of Home Affairs, and it also verifies with the Department of Employment and Labour to check whether the person is UIF (Unemployment Insurance Fund) registered or not,” SASSA said in a statement to SA News.

“If the verification of the above mentioned requirements are not yet finalised, the status will state ‘pending’. When the applicant has successfully passed all verification, SASSA will approve the application and the status will be updated to ‘approved’,” SASSA added.

The agency also indicated that not providing full banking details during the application process is another way that grants can be delayed, as applicants will sometimes only choose the name of the bank where they want to get the grant.

Apart from that, it is incredibly easy to check the status of your SASSA SRD grant application online. Simply head to www.srd.sassa.gov.za and then input your SA ID number and the phone number you used to submit your application.

Once your SRD grant status is approved, you can collect your R350 grant from post offices, Pick n Pay, or through a bank or ATM.

For more information, applicants can contact the SASSA’s toll free number: 0800 60 10 11 or 013 574 9428/9363 from 08:00 – 16:00 during weekdays Monday – Friday.