Unemployed South Africans feel hoodwinked by their government. The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has defaulted on its promise to pay out the distress relief R350 to some and this has caused a frenzy on social media.
When is SASSA paying out grants?
The Department of Social Development is responsible for issuing out distress relief grants to a segment of society that has been grossly impacted by the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19).
Believe it or not, R350 can go a long way if you are unemployed and that’s why millions of South Africans have lodged an application to receive the grant.
According to recent communications by SASSA, Wednesday and Thursday have been earmarked for the rollout of grant payments of older persons as well as those living with a disability.
Other grant payments — distress relief grants may be included — will be paid out from Friday 5 June, the organisation confirmed.
If you have applied for a distress relief grant and did not receive any communication from SASSA, you can use this easy method to check on your application status:
Social media goes on a rant: ‘Where is our R350?’
For some reason, this crucial information from SASSA has not been received by many disgruntled applicants who, on Wednesday, took to social media to vent out their frustrations with not waking up to a payment notification from the grants authority.
Some have complained about the apparent inefficiency SASSA has displayed since the rollout of the distress relief grants, while others basked in the glory of being drafted early in the payment rollout.
Here are some of the reactions from disgruntled SASSA applicants: