To stop theft, the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) just put in place a new way to check people’s identities. However, this new method has caused a lot of worry among grant recipients. A lot of people who get the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant have said they are having trouble getting to their money.
The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) spokeswoman, Paseka Letsatsi, said that biometric identification was put in place to cut down on fraud, especially with the R370-a-month SRD grant, which has seen a lot of fraud.
Since the beginning of the year, users who want to change their phone numbers have had to go through biometric ID verification. Now, this rule applies to people who are accused of identity theft or who have already been a victim of it.
Letsatsi said, “SASSA works with banks and the South African Fraud Prevention Service to find clients who are likely to have their identities stolen.” “This is an electronic Know Your Client process that clients need to go through to prove who they are, like banks do.”
What are the major issues with the newly introduced SASSA Identity Verification?
In this video, Elizabeth Raiters, Deputy Chairperson of Pay the Grant, talks about the main problems that people who receive the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Grant are having because of the new proof process. He said that the group has gotten a lot of reports from people all over the country.
One of the main worries is that users have not been told about the new ID verification process yet. Elizabeth Raiters said that SASSA did not tell grant users ahead of time, which made it hard for them to figure out what was going on with their grants.
This implementation has also been hard because it happened at the same time as June pay dates. This meant that many grant recipients did not have time to do the appropriate checks and still get their money on time.
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SASSA’s New Biometric Verification Process
In the new system, people who are eligible must go through biometric verification. To do this, they will get an SMS with a link to finish the process. However, this has caused a number of problems:
Having access to technology
A lot of people do not have access to smartphones or cameras, which are needed to do the biometric verification.
Documents Needed for ID
People with the older green ID books are hit the hardest because they can not get handouts until they apply for the newer smart card IDs. Getting these smart IDs is hard for the people who need them because it costs money and takes time.
Widespread Impact
Elizabeth Raiters said that this sudden change has had an effect on a huge number of people. A lot of the people that the new system flagged already had their identities checked because they had bank accounts that were tied to the Department of Home Affairs. This extra proof does not seem to be necessary, and it is caused many people to lose the money they were supposed to get.
Lack of Grace Period by SASSA
Even though people have tried to get in touch with SASSA, there has not been a way for beneficiaries to get extra time to finish the biometric verification without losing their grants for June. This lack of care has made it harder for many people who depend on these handouts to meet their basic needs to pay their bills.
Implications for Beneficiaries
The new verification method has a big effect right away. People who count on these grants to make a living are now at risk of going hungry. People with green ID books are having a hard time with money because they will not get their grants until they can pay to get smart IDs. This situation brings up the bigger problem of inefficient systems and the need to be more careful about how these processes are put in place.
Appeal to SASSA
Elizabeth Raiters and other supporters want SASSA to give the affected recipients their grants back and give them enough time to go through the biometric identification process. The request stresses how important it is to think about the beneficiaries’ situations and the unintended effects of the sudden change in the system.
The new ID verification process from SASSA is meant to cut down on fraud, but it has caused a lot of trouble and troubleshooting for grant users. To make sure that the weakest people in society are not left without help, we need better ways to communicate, easier access to technology, and a more caring way of changing policies.