Jobless refugees and asylum seekers living in South Africa – who already receive child grants – are being urged to apply for the government’s Special Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant.
“To this end, SASSA [South African Social Security Agency] calls on the unemployed holders of the 7777 identity number [who are already] receiving child grants to apply for the Special Covid-19 SRD,” said CEO Busisiwe Memela-Khambula.
She added: “It would not have made sense to exclude them from receiving the Covid-19 grant if there is every indication pointing to the fact that they are unemployed and have no alternative source of income”.
SASSA has on its grant system beneficiaries who do not have South Africa ID documents. These beneficiaries include permanent residents, asylum seekers, and refugees.
“To enable them to apply for social grants, SASSA allocated persons without 13-digit bar-coded ID numbers a system-generated 7777 identification number,” explained Memela-Khambula.
Successful applications for Covid-19 relief will be paid together with their child grant, said SASSA.
Caregivers who do not yet have their 7777 identity number who wish to apply for the Covid-19 relief should call SASSA toll-free on 0800 60 11 to get their numbers.
