Official breakdown
| Category | Estimated amount | Main components |
|---|---|---|
| Permanent residents | ~R1.117 billion | Older Persons Grant R931.5m; Child Support Grant R134.5m; Disability Grant R31.7m; plus smaller amounts for Care Dependency, Grant-in-Aid, Foster Child |
| Recognised refugees | ~R150.8 million | Child Support Grant R105.8m; Older Persons Grant R32.7m; plus smaller disability/care amounts |
| SRD (qualifying special permits + asylum seekers) | ~R10.6 million | Lesotho Exemption Permit holders R9.18m; Zimbabwe Exemption Permit ~R449k; asylum seekers ~R962k; Special Angolan Dispensation ~R24k |
| Total | ~R1.278 billion | — |
This represented less than 1% of the overall social assistance budget (permanent residents alone were about 0.45%).
Key context
- Under the Social Assistance Act and regulations, grants are available to South African citizens, permanent residents, and recognised refugees who meet the means-test and other criteria. Permanent residents have a legal right to these benefits once they qualify.
- Asylum seekers and certain special-permit holders (e.g., Lesotho/Zimbabwe exemption permits) have more limited access, mainly to the SRD grant under specific rules. Asylum-seeker SRD was only ~R962,000 in total.
- SASSA has repeatedly stated it does not pay social grants or SRD to undocumented/illegal immigrants or people unlawfully present in the country. Claims of large-scale payments to undocumented people have been debunked.
The numbers come directly from the ministerial reply published via PMG and reported across multiple outlets in September 2026. The recent social-media posts (including Zungula’s) are referencing this official data.
