Zulu to open applications for Covid special grants on Friday

The R350 grant was first introduced over a year ago to help put food on the table for households strained by the pandemic.

In the first cycle, which ended earlier this year, the Department of Social Development received more than 10 million applications.

Six million of these applications were approved, totalling R24 billion. 

Government announced the return of the grants last month.

Zulu briefed the media on Wednesday on the steps taken to disburse more funds.

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“It would be recalled that on multiple occasions, I had indicated that the Department had been engaging with the relevant departments for the extension of this grant, given the positive impact the grant had during the first iteration,” she said. 

“Not only did we manage to reduce hunger and vulnerability among poor households but we were especially successful at reducing poverty and inequality through the provision of both the SRD grant and the caregiver allowance that was initially provided.”

Zulu added government would tighten measures to ensure the system doesn’t fall victim to fraud and corruption. 

“The system developed over the past year has been improved to manage the numbers of applicants and payments monthly. In addition, improvements continue to be made to improve the service to applicants. Applicants are also reminded that this grant is validated every month.  

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“This means that any change to the financial circumstances of the applicant may result in the grant not being approved for subsequent months, or approved for some months but not all,” said Zulu. 

She pleaded with South Africans who don’t qualify for the grant to desist from burdening the system with applications. 

Zulu further vowed to take action against those who tried to defraud the system. 

“I want to once again reiterate that this grant is for people who are under distress. We have in the past year established that there were public servants, business people and children from financially comfortable families who applied for the grant. 

"I really want to plead with members of the public, if you do not need nor qualify for this grant - please refrain from taking away from the people who are truly in need. 

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“We will continue to monitor any fraudulent activity, and SASSA will implement measures to recover every cent from those who benefitted wrongly, and will refer these matters to law enforcement agencies for further action and possible arrests.”