Sassa grant biometrics issue leaves thousands stranded

Thousands of beneficiaries of the South African Social Security Agency’s (Sassa) R370 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grants are facing challenges in verifying their identities with the agency’s new biometric identification system.

The DA on Thursday expressed concern that vulnerable beneficiaries are suffering due to the ineffective system.

The system, aimed at combating fraud, requires beneficiaries to receive a verification link from the Department of Home Affairs via SMS to submit a photo of their face. However, many have not received this link due to alleged system downtime at Home Affairs.

“While the DA commends Sassa’s initiative in combating fraud with its new biometric system, the agency needs to urgently implement contingencies to help beneficiaries unable to access and use the system – vulnerable beneficiaries cannot be allowed to suffer due to ineffective systems,” said the party.

Accountability and solutions

The DA promised to ensure that Sassa accounts to parliament on the challenges faced by the new biometric verification system and the procedures in place to help recipients.

The party also vowed to also engage with Home Affairs Minister Dr Leon Schreiber to ensure the required verification links are successfully sent.

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Sassa biometric

Sassa launched the biometric identity verification system to enhance the security of social grant distribution and curb fraud.

The agency initiative aimed to safeguard Sassa and its clients against identity theft and fraudulent payments.

According to Sassa, the verification process was primarily aimed at selected categories of Covid SRD clients, including those who wished to modify their existing mobile numbers and those whose records were flagged as possible victims or perpetrators of identity theft.

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“Sassa provided detailed instructions during affected clients’ interaction with the Covid SRD system.”

However, the exact processes remained confidential for safety reasons.

Biometric verification, especially facial recognition, ensures that only authorised individuals are able to access client records, reducing identity theft and fraudulent payments.

“Payment of grants was suspended for clients who did not complete the verification,” said Sassa.

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The agency emphasised that the verification process did not affect clients who were not listed in the selected categories.

Green ID books likely to cause verification issues

According to Business Day, Sassa spokesperson Paseka Letsatsi acknowledged the issues, stating that recipients must request the link again later when the Home Affairs’ service used by Sassa for verification is restored.

Grant recipients using old green ID books are more likely to experience difficulties with facial biometric verification, said Sassa.

The agency attributed this to the poor quality of photos in these ID books. In cases where verification fails, beneficiaries will need to acquire a new ID with enhanced biometric features, as stated by Letsatsi.

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Pilot programme launched

To address the widespread difficulties, Sassa launched a pilot programme in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro last month.

This allowed beneficiaries without smartphones to use webcams at local Sassa offices to complete their verification.

The pilot programme reportedly helped over 170 clients, and Sassa said it plans to expand this service to other provinces.