SASSA's own half-year numbers show pensioners carry the brunt of grant reviews

Pensioners carried the heaviest share of the South African Social Security Agency’s grant review work in the first half of this financial year, according to figures in the agency’s own half-year report.

As The South African reported on 29 September, the report shows that by the end of June pensioners made up 55% of all completed administrative reviews. They also accounted for 54% of grants suspended where the agency did not complete a review, and 73,7% of grants suspended on means-testing grounds.

The Older Person’s Grant, often called the Old Age Grant, is the only grant the government expects to increase spending on. The figures suggest that the same grant is where SASSA’s vetting effort is concentrated.

Means testing for the Older Person’s Grant runs on two tests. A single pensioner may not earn more than R9 350 a month outside the grant. A couple may not earn more than R18 700 a month between them. On the asset side, a pensioner may not hold assets worth more than R3,16 million, a figure that includes property and investments such as retirement annuities.

That asset threshold is where the Western Cape becomes the tightest province in the country for pensioners. Property prices in the province have risen 38% over the past five years, and the average property value there stood at R1,8 million as of September 2026. A pensioner who bought decades ago and never moved can find that a home alone has pushed them toward the R3,16 million ceiling, without any change in monthly income.

The Western Cape also has nearly half as many Older Person’s Grant beneficiaries as KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, despite a pensioner population of comparable size. That mismatch is consistent with the province’s property values pushing more applicants out of eligibility.

Suspensions that follow a review the agency did not complete are a separate problem from means-test suspensions. A grant stopped because SASSA did not finish the paperwork is an administrative failure, not a finding that the pensioner is ineligible. Because the report does not break that category down further, it cannot be established from the figures how many of those pensioners were later reinstated.

The pressure lands on households already stretched. According to FNB’s Retirement Insights, 74% of South Africans over 60 say the cost of living is higher than they expected. Healthcare costs were the biggest surprise, followed by housing and emergencies. Among lower-income over-60s, 44% said retirement was going worse than they expected. Many pensioners told the survey they expect to supplement their income by working or starting a business.

For an older reader in Gqeberha, Soweto or Bellville, the practical effect is a review letter that has to be answered with proof of income and assets, and a grant that can stop while that proof is processed. The Older Person’s Grant is paid to roughly one in every twenty South Africans, and in many households it is the only reliable monthly income.

The Department of Social Development and SASSA have not yet responded to questions about the review figures or about the share falling on pensioners. Where a grant is suspended because a review was not completed, the pensioner can approach their nearest SASSA office to have the review finalised, and the agency’s appeals process remains open to anyone who believes a means-test decision is wrong.

Source: The South African, SASSA is going after pensioners more than other grant beneficiaries