Survive on R80-a-day: SASSA Old-Age Grant conundrum

Monthly cost pressure on the SASSA Old-Age Grant is reaching breaking point for most beneficiaries. Christine van Aardt, a regular reader of The South African, put it plainly in her comment last week:

“Why is minimal work payment designated per hour, day or month? Yet, old-age pensioners are receiving R80 per day?”

Meanwhile, minimum wage in South Africa is R30.23 per hour. This means, in theory, that all covered workers – including farm and domestic workers – walk away with R241.84 (per eight-hour day). That equates to R5 895 per month, or nearly three-times more than the SASSA Old-Age Grant stipend.

R80-A-DAY SASSA OLD-AGE GRANT

As regular readers will know, the South African Social Security Agency old-age grant is R2 400 a month for those aged 60 to 74. And R2 420 for those aged 75 and over. Therefore, a minimum-wage-earning worker walks away with a pensioner’s entire windfall in about 10 working days.

Christine then graciously lists the retail prices her SASSA Old-Age Grant is up against each month:

• Mealie meal at R9 a kilogram.
• Flour at R4.50.
• Fresh milk at R30 per two litres.
• Canned food average of R12 a tin.

She adds, “this doesn’t even account for her rent per day!” Plus, elderly pensioners who can’t afford the bulk bag of items pay roughly double per kilogram. Even on her lower prices, rent, electricity and medicine come first. And sometimes food is what’s left behind.

MOUNTING COST PRESSURE IN SOUTH AFRICA

And let’s not forget that municipal electricity went up 9% in July. Diesel and petrol prices are at record highs beyond R30 per litre, and October passed without the usual R10 top-up from SASSA. And Finance Minister Godongwana’s MTBPS address last month didn’t exactly calm matters. 

He reiterated that SASSA grant reviews are only going to ramp up as the agency tries to keep budgets in check. Already, 56 807 grants were suspended between April and June 2026, which equates to some 630 per day. Plus, the cost of repeated trips to SASSA offices to rectify reviews falls on those least able to afford it.

REAL SASSA OLD-AGE GRANT CHALLENGES

Christine’s closing line is also telling:

“Amazing what all of us have worked, payed taxes, voted and done that for our whole lives. For what?”

Of course, the SASSA Old-Age Grant was never designed to be a full income. But for millions of pensioners, it is the only one they can count on now.

The moral question then becomes: How can an emerging economy like South Africa’s be satisfied keeping its oldest citizens on an income nearly a third-less than an already pitifully low minimum wage?

But what do you think? Do you have any spending advice or tips to other pensioners? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below …