SASSA tightens grant reviews and biometric checks as fraud scrutiny mounts

The South African Social Security Agency has intensified its review of social grant beneficiaries and expanded eLife certification and biometric enrolment, saying the measures are needed to stop fraudulent payments and grants going to people who no longer qualify.

As The South African reported on 10 October, the agency issued a statement on Friday after media reports about money paid to beneficiaries who were allegedly not eligible during the 2025/26 financial year. SASSA also responded to issues raised before the Portfolio Committee on Social Development on Wednesday, 7 October.

The agency said social assistance is a constitutional obligation and a critical safety net for millions of vulnerable South Africans. It said the system must still be protected against fraud, abuse, errors, misrepresentation and payments to people who no longer qualified for assistance.

“The integrity of the social grants system cannot be protected by avoiding reviews simply because reviews may be uncomfortable or inconvenient,” SASSA said.

SASSA said the reviews and eLife certification had drawn criticism from some sections of society and interest groups, amid concerns that the interventions were intended to exclude legitimate beneficiaries. The agency rejected that, saying the processes were designed to establish whether beneficiaries continued to meet the prescribed eligibility requirements.

“A social grant is not an unconditional entitlement that continues irrespective of changes in a beneficiary’s circumstances,” it said. “Beneficiaries have a responsibility to inform SASSA when circumstances that may affect their eligibility change.”

Those circumstances include income, employment, marital status, banking details, residential circumstances and other material personal changes. SASSA said reviews were an administrative and control mechanism to verify whether beneficiaries remained eligible for the grants they received, and that people who legitimately qualified should not fear a process meant to confirm that.

On eLife certification, SASSA said the process establishes whether beneficiaries are still alive and are the legitimate recipients of social assistance. It is intended to prevent public funds from being paid where a beneficiary has died, where there is uncertainty about their continued existence, or where another person may be unlawfully accessing the grant.

“Social grants reviews and eLife certification are therefore not designed to arbitrarily terminate grants,” SASSA said. “They are a control mechanism intended to confirm the continued existence and eligibility of beneficiaries and to prevent fraudulent payments.”

A third intervention, Beneficiary Biometric Enrolment, is intended to strengthen identity verification and improve the security of social grant transactions. SASSA said it forms part of broader efforts to reduce impersonation and fraudulent transactions, while ensuring grants reach their rightful recipients.

The agency said the measures mattered given the scale of the public resources the social assistance system manages and the millions of beneficiaries it serves. It said it could not rely indefinitely on historical information, because systems, identities, personal circumstances and payment arrangements change over time.

“Controls must therefore evolve accordingly,” SASSA said.

Source: The South African, SASSA grant reviews: What beneficiaries need to know