When I tried to apply for a SASSA grant, I was told it is already active. What should I do?

The long answer

GroundUp reported on 23 January 2025 that SASSA categorises applications into one of four categories:

• Invalid: The SASSA grant does not exist or the phone number registered to the SASSA grant does not match.

• Awaiting Identity Verification: The SASSA SRD Application has been blocked until the person verifies their identity by facial scan.

• Active Application: These are applications currently active and not marked as fraudulent.

• Awaiting Reapplication: These require people to reapply for the SRD grant.

If you have not applied for a SASSA grant before, it would seem that your ID is being used by someone else to draw the grant – in other words, fraud.

A massive amount of fraud in SASSA was exposed late last year and thousands of people had their grants suspended by SASSA, as a result. GroundUp looked at a sample of fraudulent applications and reported in the 23 January 2025 article that SASSA has definitely made progress in stopping the fraudulent applications. But it needed to improve more, and make sure its online verification system eKYC (“Electronic Know Your Client”) was working and easy to use. 

India Science reported that people who changed their mobile numbers had to verify their identity biometrically – through facial scans through the online eKYC, which means getting a link from SASSA by SMS to complete the process. Biometrics identify a person’s unique biological characteristics like fingerprints, face and voice.

Now people who are suspected of fraud, or are victims of fraud, as you yourself might be, also have to undergo biometric verification, before they will receive their grants.

But in January the eKYC was down, as SASSA said it was making improvements to it. That meant that people who needed to verify their identity biometrically couldn’t do it as the online system was down.

Pay The Grants reported SASSA announced on 4 March 2025 that the eKYC system is back online, but it is described as "fragile’, which means that there are still issues with it.

NowInSA reported that users often get this message: “The service is unavailable at the moment. Please try again later.” Their advice is to try to access the site during off-peak hours. 

Unfortunately, a person who applies for an SRD grant must apply for it online only, unlike the other social grants where you can apply in person.

High Court Judge Twala ordered in a recent judgement against SASSA and the Treasury that SASSA must allow in-person applications for the SRD grant in the same way as the other grants. But nothing has been done to carry out the court order yet, and the Judge has now agreed that SASSA and the Treasury can appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal against his judgement.

So, what can you do?  

I think the best advice is to immediately contact the SASSA fraud hotline at 0800 601 011, tell them of the “active” status and give them your ID number.  

SASSA may then ask for biometric verification to compare your biometrics with their database of biometrics.

You can also ask the Black Sash, which has a lot of experience with SASSA, for help and advice.

These are their contact details:

• Email: [email protected]

• Helpline: 072 66 33 73, 072 633 3739 or 063 610 1865.

Wishing you the best,
Athalie