55-year-old pensioner forced to keep job-hunting as R2 400 grant falls short
· The South African
Most South Africans see the SASSA Older Persons Grant as the finish line. For one Gauteng pensioner in his mid-fifties, it’s barely the starting point. Holding a diploma in administration and willing to relocate for the right job, he’s still actively applying for work, not because he wants to, but because his SASSA grant can’t stretch far enough to support the up to five dependents who rely on him.
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Why is the SASSA grant not enough to stop working for the pensioner
He receives R2 400 monthly through the SASSA Older Persons Grant. Living in a shared family home, he pools resources with relatives to keep everyone fed. But by the third week of every month, the money runs out completely. Rising food prices have eaten into what little buying power the grant offers, forcing him to keep chasing job opportunities that most people his age have long given up on.
South Africa’s unemployment rate sits above 32%, and age discrimination makes the search even harder for someone with valuable administrative experience. Still, he says he’s willing to relocate for the right role, a striking commitment for someone technically eligible to retire.
The support gap nobody told him about
Perhaps most telling: he had no idea other government support programmes existed that could supplement his SASSA grant. Food parcels, housing subsidies and municipal relief schemes are meant to reach households exactly like his, yet the information never reached him. It’s a gap that likely affects thousands of grant recipients quietly falling through the cracks of a system that assumes they know what’s available.
His ask is simple: increase the grant amount and make payments easier to access through recipients’ preferred banks. He rated his overall SASSA experience as “very good,” praising the direct bank deposit system, but flagged long queues, unclear application status updates, and confusing online information as ongoing frustrations.
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