Sassa implements biometric enrolment for new beneficiaries from September

The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) will introduce compulsory biometric enrolment for new beneficiaries starting in September.

This initiative aims to bolster beneficiary verification and combat social grant fraud, as highlighted in a briefing to the Portfolio Committee on Social Development on Wednesday.

The National Treasury estimates the project will cost R105 million over the next three years in its 2025 Budget Estimate of National Expenditure.

Acting CEO Brenton van Vrede said they began piloting the biometric system at the start of the 2025/26 financial year after challenges with unions were addressed.

Van Vrede said some issues were experienced during the pilot phase, but these were ironed out.

“We believe we are now ready to be able to go live with biometrics on the first of September for all new grant applicants.

“We are not saying everyone must come in and be biometrically enrolled. We want to make sure that every new grant application from the first of September has biometric enrolments,” Van Vrede said.

Social Development Minister Sisisi Tolashe asked for the committee’s indulgence to give an update on the biometric identification in their first quarter report for the financial year.

“At that time, we would have assessed whether this is working, what the challenges are, what the gaps are, where they are, and how we intend to deal with the gaps. That will be our humble request,” Tolashe said.

She indicated that Sassa has requested the National Treasury to appoint contract workers to fast-track the project and ease the tension and anxiety of beneficiaries.

Tolashe also said the implementation of the biometric identification was an outcome of the outcry by MPs and the Auditor-General that social grants were paid to the wrong people.

“This process is trying to address exactly that, that you pay Nokuzola Sisisi Tolashe, whom you can see and touch, who you have proof that she, in fact, deserves to get the grant according to the Sassa Act,” she told the MPs.

But, MPs questioned the implementation of the project insofar as providing resources to staff and whether it would not contribute to long queues.

DA MP Alexandra Abrahams said not all officials in Sassa offices have their own fingerprint scanners.

“They don't have the resources they individually need to complete an in-person application within a decent amount of time, and that is why we are seeing such long queues, especially at Bellville offices, because the staff there are not resourced to do the jobs,” Abrahams said.

She noted that many Sassa offices don’t even have self-help kiosks and flat screens that were part of the queue management system.

“So my question then is how is this going to affect the long queues we are seeing?” Abrahams asked.

Van Vrede referred to a response that was provided by CFO Tsakeriwa Chauke when he spoke about using the savings from the terminated Master Service Agreement with Postbank towards the modernisation and digitisation programme at Sassa.

“The savings that we are having from this contract will enable us to make sure that by the end of this financial year, every local office will have all of what we call the tools for modernisation,” he said.

Chauke earlier told the MPs that they were not allocated additional funds for the project.

He said the savings would come in handy to hire contract workers, used in the digitisation of the documents, maintenance of offices and infrastructure to service beneficiaries, as well as beefing up cyber-security measures.

“We are also looking to acquire some of the gadgets that are required because, if you do the modernisation, you are going to require a lot of gadgets that could be different from what we are operating. We are also looking at the review of the ICT architecture, just to make sure that we support this,” Chauke said.

mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za