The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has digitised approximately 70% of its records, with CEO Themba Matlou telling Parliament that full digitalisation of the remaining files is expected by the second quarter of the current financial year.
Matlou was presenting SASSA’s 2026/2027 Annual Performance Plan to the Portfolio Committee on Social Development on 30 April 2026.
The agency is also rolling out an electronic queue management system at its offices to address what Matlou described as a key pain point for beneficiaries.
He outlined a vision for SASSA to eventually offer a customer experience comparable to that of a leading bank — seamless, digital-first, and accessible.
Fraud Crackdown Drives Grant Decline
The total number of social grants being paid out has fallen by more than 400,000 over the past year. SASSA attributes this partly to sustained fraud interventions targeting ghost beneficiaries, double-dippers, and recipients who no longer qualify.
The scale of the verification drive is significant. By December 2025, SASSA had cross-checked the bank accounts of approximately six million clients and eight million credit bureau records.
These data-matching exercises — conducted in partnership with banks, credit bureaus, SARS, NSFAS, and the government payroll system — flagged 291,581 grant beneficiaries for review.
A further 34,661 grants were subsequently cancelled, generating projected savings of R170.7 million by the end of the 2025/26 financial year.
National Treasury has tied SASSA’s budget allocations to measurable improvements in biometric and income verification.
The stricter targeting is expected to yield savings of R2 billion in 2026/27 and a further R1 billion in 2027/28, even as the overall social grant budget rises to R292.8 billion for the current financial year.
Postbank Gold Card Swap Under Way
Separately, Postbank confirmed that the migration of remaining SASSA gold card holders to the new Postbank black card began on 29 April 2026.
Beneficiaries have until 31 August 2026 to complete the switch. New black cards can be collected free of charge at Postbank service points inside selected retailers — including Shoprite, Checkers, Usave, Pick n Pay, Boxer, and Spar — with only a valid South African ID required.
No forms are needed and cards can be collected in any province regardless of where the grant was originally approved.
South Africa’s social grant system currently supports approximately 26.5 million beneficiaries across eight grant categories, making SASSA one of the largest social security administrators on the African continent.
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