South Africa - How To Apply for Social relief of distress

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Procedure

Apply In-Person:

1. To apply for a Social Relief of Distress in person, the applicant has to visit the nearest local office of the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA).
2. Please click the following link for the contact details of the SASSA office in your province: Link
3. Visit the nearest office of SASSA and obtain the application form to apply for Social Relief of Distress, from the respective department.
4. Make sure that you have all the documents listed in the “Required documents” section of this page and also ensure that you satisfy the eligibility criteria for receiving the relief by referring the “Eligibility” section of this page.
5. Complete the application to apply for claiming Social Relief of Distress, with all the required details under relevant sections.
6. Now, submit the application with all the required documents to the SASSA official for further proceeding. An assessment will be conducted to verify whether you are in really in need of the grant.
7. If all the documents are found in order and your need for the service is found honest, you will receive the relief of social distress for a period of three months.
8. Even if you lack any of the documents, the first month grant will be issued to you. But, you should take all the required documents to the officer before the second month grant payment.
9. Otherwise, you will not receive the consecutive months’ relief of distress. If there is no change in your circumstances after you have received the grant for three months, you may apply to have the grant extended for another three months (in exceptional cases).

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Required Documents

• Proof that you are in need of social relief
• Identification document
• Birth certificate of the child for which Child grant claim has been applied (if in case)
• If your identity document and/or a birth certificate are not available:
• An affidavit authorized by Justice of peace
• A sworn statement from a councillor, traditional leader, social worker or religious minister who knows you and child
• Proof of Birth certificate or Identity document Application (if any)
• A temporary Identity document issued by DHA (if applicable)
• Certificate of Baptism
• A road to Health clinic card
• School Report
• An affidavit from local police station, chief, councillor or religious leader

NOTE: No application can be processed without the sworn statement/affidavit.

Office Locations & Contacts

South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) - Head Office
Physical Address:28 Harrison Street
Johannesburg
2000
South Africa
Postal Adsress:Private Bag X120
Marshalltown
2107
South Africa
Tel:012 312 7790/ 012 312 7591
Fax:012 323 3733
Email: [email protected]
Website link

Eligibility

• Any person, who is in need of help until his/her children’s is granted, is eligible to apply,
• Any person, who has suffered a sudden crisis or disaster, can apply
• Any person, who is not eligible for any type of grant but in an adverse situation, is eligible to apply.
• Any person, who is unable to work for a period of less than six month because of medical illness, can apply.
• Any person, who is unable to get maintenance from the other parent of your child or children, is eligible to apply.
• Any person from a family where the breadwinner has the breadwinner has been sent to prison for a short time (less than six months) died is eligible to claim.
• Any person who have been affected by a disaster, but the area or community in which you live has not been declared a disaster area.

Fees

• The entire service is free of cost.
  

Validity

• The grant is issued for a period of three months, except in cases where it is extended for another three months.
  

Documents to Use

• Application form can be obtained at any SASSA office.
  

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Processing Time

• The application will be processed immediately after submission.
  

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver,
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

Instructions

During the assessment of the proof of your need by the SASSA official, proofs of the following should be presented:

• have applied for a grant
• have had an emergency (e.g. provide a police report that your house burnt down)
• have tried to get maintenance
• have no other support
• are married, divorced, or single
• have no income
• have a short-term medical disability.

Required Information

• Particulars of the applicant
• Particulars of the applicant’s spouse
• Identification document numbers
• Proof information

Need for the Document

• The Social Relief of distress is sought when a person or family is in insufficiency of money even for fulfilling their basic or daily expenses.
  

Information which might help

• The Social Relief of Distress may be in the form of a food parcel or a voucher to buy food. Some provinces give this assistance in the form of cash. Social Relief of Distress is given for a short time only, usually for up to three months, which may be extended for another three months in some cases.
• No person who is in receipt of social grant may receive the grant and social relief of distress simultaneously. Any person who receive both social relief and grant at the same time must repay the value of the social relief of distress received.
• This will be recovered from any social grant payment, including an arrear payment. However, where the person who is in receipt of a social grant received social relief of distress as a result of a disaster, that amount will not be recovered.

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate.
e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

Place some external links which might help.

Others

More information which might help people.