If you are an adult (18 years or older) who is not able to work because of a mental or physical disability, you can get a monthly payment from the government called a disability grant. You can get a permanent grant if your disability will last for more than one year, or a temporary grant if your disability will last for between six months and a year.
Who Can Get the Grant?
How Much Is the Grant?
How to Apply for the Grant?
You must be a citizen or permanent resident of South Africa and living in South Africa at the time of applying for the grant. You must be unable to work. If you are under 18 years of age, your parent or guardian must apply for the care dependency grant instead. Also bear in mind that if your disability is as a result of an accident at work or a motor vehicle accident, you may also have a compensation claim.
You cannot get the grant if you are in prison, living in a state institution (such as a state old age home), living in a psychiatric hospital, getting care from a state treatment centre, or if you are getting state care for a drug habit. You also cannot get the grant if you are refusing to undergo medical treatment, or if you give false or misleading information when you make your application for the grant.
Only people whose financial situation is below a certain level can get the grant. The test to decide is called a means test. The means test depends on your income (if you're not married), or on the income of both you and your spouse (if you are married).
In 2006 the means test for the disability grant for a person who is not married says that you cannot get the grant if your assets are worth more than R266 400 (the value of your home is not taken into account, as long as you are living in it). Your income must also be less than R20 232 per year.
If you are married, you cannot get the grant if your joint assets (the assets belonging to both you and your spouse together) are worth more than R532 800 (the value of your home is not taken into account, as long as you are living there). Your joint income (your income plus your spouse's income) must be less than R37 512 per year.
The amount of the grant changes every year and depends on your income and assets. In 2006, the maximum grant was R820.00 per month.
If you cannot look after yourself and need full-time care from someone else, you can also apply for a Grant-In-Aid which you can get in addition to your disability grant.
Your disability grant will be converted to an old age grant when you turn 60 (if you are a woman) or 65 (if you are a man). The amount of the old age grant is the same as the disability grant. You can also, if you qualify, convert your grant at any time to a war veteran's grant. The amount of the war veteran's grant is slightly more than the disability or old age grant.
You can apply for the disability grant by filling in an application form at your nearest District Welfare office or counter service point of a District Office. You do not need to pay anything to make the application.
You will be interviewed, have your fingerprints taken, and given information on whether you qualify for the grant.
You will also have to undergo a medical examination. The degree of your disability will be assessed either by a doctor appointed by the state. You should bring along any previous medical records and reports both when you make the application and when the assessment is done. The doctor will complete a medical report and will forward the report to the Department. The report is valid for three months from the date you are assessed.
It will take about thirty working days for your application to be processed and checked, once the medical report is received, and either approved or refused. If your application is refused you will get a letter explaining why it has been refused and how you can appeal.
If it is approved you will start getting payments within 3 months. The payments will be backdated to the day you applied for the grant. You can find out what has happened to your application and when you can expect payment by telephoning the South African Social Security Agency's toll-free number on 0800 601 011.
The disability grant will be cancelled if you die, if you are admitted to a state institution, or if your income or assets improve so much that you no longer qualify in terms of the means test, or, in the case of a temporary disability grant, when the period of the temporary disability had lapsed. You must inform the Department if any changes in your circumstances.