SASSA means test questioned: Recipients earning 5x more

Policing of the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) means test is coming under renewed scrutiny. This is after former Capitec CEO Gerrie Fourie alleged that beneficiaries are earning five-times more than their grant amounts. Speaking in the media last week, Fourie was using Capitec’s own banking data as a reference point.

And Stats SA’s own numbers point the same way, too. The question remains, why does government’s SASSA means test miss such a huge discrepancy? Is there not a better way to discern between grant income, side hustles, informal trading and casual work?

SASSA MEANS TEST

It appears there’s a simple structural problem with the SASSA process. Whether for Social Relief of Distress (SRD) or ‘core’ grants like Older Person and Child Support, it is still fundamentally a bank-statement exercise.

The SASSA means test runs a sweep of every bank account linked to an applicant’s identity number at all major South African banks. It adds up all credits and debits and matches them against the relevant threshold. Cross it, and you’re flagged. After you’re flagged, you’re reviewed. If you don’t rectify your review, your grant is withheld for the month.

SEED MONEY FOR INFORMAL WORK

However, the SASSA means test only works against money that touches a legitimate bank account. As such, if your side income is paid in cash and is spent before being banked, it simply never registers in the agency’s crosshairs. The same applies for a stokvel payout, a day’s wages for informal labour, etc …

Moreover, the ongoing Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) case against SASSA SRD argues that some funds should be classified differently. Should a R2 000 deposit from a friend of family member count? What about a stokvel contribution, does that count as ‘income?’ And should it rightfully breach the threshold of the SASSA means test?

UNEMPLOYMENT VS SASSA MEANS TEST

Likewise, there is incentivisation to maintain unemployment and keep the SASSA means test quiet. As Fourie pointed out previously, admitting to being employed, even informally, means risking your monthly grant. SASSA has neither the manpower nor the mandate to individually audit millions of informal side hustles nationwide.

Therefore, if a bank’s own data shows grant recipients earn five-times their grant on average, why can’t the SASSA means test see it? It’s surely a sign that the entire social welfare system in South Africa needs a ground-up redesign to hold recipients truly accountable …

But what do you think? Can you blame poor citizens for trying to beat the SASSA means test? Or do you think they’re effectively stealing money from those who could actually benefit from it? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below …