Sometimes, you may discover deductions from your social grant that you did not approve. It may take the form of a debit order or a payment that you do not remember making. If these become regular, they may add up to a significant amount of money that you would have used for your pressing needs.
With this in mind, the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has issued a step-by-step guide for SASSA grant recipients to stop unauthorised deductions from their grants.
Stopping unauthorised deductions on SASSA grant
In a Twitter post on Tuesday (18 April), SASSA advised grant recipients who are affected by unauthorised deductions to lodge a dispute via an automated SMS system.
To lodge a dispute and start the process of stopping the deduction, simply send an SMS message to Q-link on 34548.
The SMS should contain the following information:
- Topic: Dispute.
- ID number: [Write your ID number].
- Name and surname: [Write your names as they appear on your ID].
- FSP Name: [Write the name of the company you are lodging a dispute against].
- Duration of the policy: [Write how long the policy has been deducting funds from your grant].
- Reason for dispute: I have never signed a contract/misrepresentation.
Once you have written these details in the SMS and you’ve confirmed that they are correct, tap send on your phone. SASSA will now start processing your dispute. It will subsequently notify you of the outcome once the process is complete.
SASSA did not indicate whether this SMS is toll-free or not. To be on the safe side, make sure you have some airtime on your phone before sending the SMS.
In case you have further enquiries, call SASSA’s customer care centre on their toll-free number 0800 60 10 11. Sometimes their customer care agents also respond to queries on the Agency’s official Twitter and Facebook pages.