Court rules SASSA's 2023 regulations limiting access to SRD grant unconstitutional & invalid

JOHANNESBURG - The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has ruled the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA)'s 2023 regulations which limited access to the R370 social relief of distress (SRD) grant are unconstitutional and invalid.

The court found invalid, among other things, the requirement for grant recipients to apply online only; the strict definitions of "income" and "financial support".

These regulations restricted access to SRD grants to fewer people and SASSA's strict appeal process.

Last year, organisations #PayTheGrants and the Institute for Economic Justice took the social development minister to court over the regulations that had major effects on recipients.  

The organisations filed an application before the superior court, arguing that the regulations excluded many eligible people from receiving the R370 grants.

They argued, among others, that the definition of the word "income" was too broad as it included financial support received through means outside of employment.

In its judgment, the court cited section 27 of the Constitution, which provides that everyone has the right to access social security. 

It goes further, saying it's immaterial whether a member of a person's family was assisting them as that did not absolve the state from performing its duty and meeting its obligations in terms of the section.

It described as unfathomable why the minister and SASSA would justify an irrational and arbitrary verification procedure that excluded people who were eligible and entitled to access the SRD grant.

It declared that the word "income" referred to money received on a regular basis from formal or informal employment, business activities or investments, which differed from the words "financial support", meaning money received on a regular basis which benefits the recipient, that does not constitute income, and which the recipient has a legal right to receive.