New 2025 SASSA verification process kicks off this week
All new applicants are encouraged to familiarise themselves with the updated 2025 SASSA verification process taking effect this week.
Here’s all you need to know about the agency’s new 2025 SASSA verification process. As we covered last month, the agency is being forced to tighten its belt in 2025 by the government.
The finance minister was going to raise VAT to keep South Africa’s social welfare bill in check.
However, this was overturned in the High Court. And since then, new measures like the 2025 SASSA verification process have come into being. This is despite a ruling back in January that SASSA cannot legally turn applicants away purely on the grounds of budgetary constraints.
2025 SASSA VERIFICATION PROCESS
Judge Twala ruled that denying South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) grant applicants living below the poverty line due to a lack of monthly funds was unconstitutional. As a result, the Department of Social Development (DSD) and the National Development Agency are now updating the 2025 SASSA verification process as follows…
According to a post on SASSA’s social media channels, starting from Saturday 7 June 2025, all new applicants will have to complete the 2025 SASSA verification process for R370 SRD grants. This involves taking a digital photo of yourself with a smartphone.
MUST HAVE A SMART ID CARD
Furthermore, the release from the agency urges applicants to visit THIS website and have their smart ID card (and smartphone) ready. Unfortunately, applicants with the old ‘green mamba’ ID booklet will not pass the online verification process. The biometric portion of the 2025 SASSA verification process is to secure digital data of all grant recipients on file for safety reasons. And if there is no digital photo of you, you won’t pass.
In the past, the agency claimed that biometric verification helps protect the grant system from fraud, corruption, and identity theft. However, civil society groups are now questioning how practical this method is. They ask how SASSA SRD applicants living below the poverty line are expected to own a smartphone with internet access and a smart ID card. Many believe the 2025 SASSA verification process contradicts Judge Twala’s High Court ruling earlier this year—a ruling SASSA has since appealed.