It has been a long time coming, but crucial municipal and governmental services are now being pushed to go digital amid the current pandemic. The SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) will roll out a WhatsApp registration process for the R350 COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress Grants.
Over the weekend, Sassa confirmed to Business Insider SA that it had been testing digital registrations through WhatsApp. This will instigate a shift away from cash payments to more streamlined digital channels, which is in line with the current social distancing movement.
To access registration for the grants, citizens can use the current national COVID-19 WhatsApp line that is now associated with the national department of health. Just go ahead and add 060 012 3456 as a contact, and send the word ‘Hi’ to the contact. At the time of writing, sending the word ‘Sassa’ to the number returns a notice that they are working on rolling out the service on WhatsApp.
Apparently the department is working on an SMS-based USSD registration process too, which will open the digital service to even more people who don’t have access to the internet or WhatsApp-capable smartphones.
The Covid-19 grant of R350 per month is available to anyone who is currently unemployed and doesn’t have access to other channels of aid.
Sauce: Business Insider