The first day of applications for the special Covid-19 social relief of distress (SRD) grant got off to a slow start owing to excessive traffic on the Sassa website.
CEO Busisiwe Memela-Khambula said this was a clear indication of the huge need for especially food aid.
‘We have now added two new online channels for applications to ease the pressure on our website – https://govchat.app/login and Facebook messenger https://www.facebook.com/govchat.org.
‘Initially, applications were only taken through the website https://SRD.sassa.gov.za or WhatsApp on 082 0468553.
‘Applications opened at 9am last Friday, but in only 45 minutes the utilisation of the server hosting the website was above 95%.
‘This resulted in the website slowing down dramatically, which necessitated us to use our disaster recovery sites and add more channels for applications.
‘Our technicians are on high alert and will monitor the impact of these interventions to continuously improve the application experience for our clients,’ Memela-Khambula said.
She added that early next week another channel called Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) will be added to the existing channels.
‘The construction of this channel is at an advanced stage, and it will help people without smartphones to also apply effortlessly.
‘Further announcements will be made in due course.
‘Anyone still experiencing technical difficulties with WhatsApp or the website is reminded that they still have the whole month of August to apply to receive their August payments.
‘Our technicians are working tirelessly to stabilise the system. We appeal to all affected applicants to please exercise patience,’ she said.
