SASSA paid about R1.28bn in grants and SRD to legally eligible foreign nationals in 2025/26

Social Development Minister Dina Pule has revealed that an estimated R1.28 billion in social grants and Social Relief of Distress (SRD) payments was allocated to legally eligible foreign nationals during the 2025/26 financial year.

Breakdown of spending by status and grant type

The minister said the largest share of the estimated expenditure went to permanent residents, with R1.12 billion spent on social grants in 2025/26. That total included:

• R931.5 million for the Older Persons Grant
• R134.5 million for the Child Support Grant
• R31.7 million for the Disability Grant
• R8.4 million for the Care Dependency Grant
• R6.6 million for the Grant-in-Aid
• R3.8 million for the Foster Child Grant

Recognised refugees accounted for an estimated R150.8 million of grant spending. Within that amount, R105.8 million was allocated to Child Support Grants and R32.7 million to Older Persons Grants.

SRD payments to qualifying foreign categories

The Social Relief of Distress payments to foreign nationals who qualified totalled an estimated R10.6 million. The SRD breakdown reported by the minister was:

• R9.18 million to Lesotho Exemption Permit holders
• R448,810 to Zimbabwe Exemption Permit holders
• R962,370 to asylum seekers
• R24,420 to holders of the Special Angolan Dispensation Permit

Overall figure and compliance note

Taken together, the estimated expenditure on grants and SRD payments to these legally eligible categories of foreign nationals amounted to approximately R1.278 billion in 2025/26.

The minister said this expenditure represented less than 1% of South Africa’s social assistance budget and stressed that the agency does not provide benefits to people who are in the country illegally.

“SASSA does not provide social grants or SRD benefits to illegal immigrants or any person unlawfully present in the Republic”

Pule added that the agency’s eligibility verification processes include checks against Department of Home Affairs records and are designed to ensure compliance with the legislative framework governing social assistance.

Source of information

The figures were disclosed in a written parliamentary reply from the minister after an inquiry by an MP.