Sassa Systems Slow Down Due to High Traffic Caused by R350 Social Grant Applications
- The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) says their website reached 95% capacity in less than an hour of applications opening for the R350 social grants
- Applicants for the grant also stated that they experienced challenges with application channels such as WhatsApp and the USSD channel
- Sassa chief executive Busisiwe Memela-Khambula says the high level of applicants shows that a lot of South Africans are in need of assistance
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When applicants for the R350 Social Relief of Distress grant attempted to submit their applications through the SA Social Security Agency's various application channels, they ran into a number of problems.
According to TimesLIVE, Sassa's website was down as well with Sassa stating that their website reached 95% capacity on Friday 45 minutes after the application channel was opened.
“The system is a bit slow because of the high volume of people who are trying to access our platforms at the same time,” said Sassa spokesperson Kgomoco Diseko.
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Applicants also experienced challenges when they attempted to use the USSD channel to make their applications.
The WhatsApp application system was also down but was restored on Monday afternoon, according to Fin24. To relieve the strain on these channels, Sassa said that applications can also be filed through the govchat.app and Facebook Messenger apps.
Sassa chief executive Busisiwe Memela-Khambula stated that the high number of applications is indicative of how many South Africans were in dire need of the grant. Memela- Khambula stated that President Cyril Ramaphosa re-established the R350 social grant at the appropriate time.
Sassa inundated with 2 000 social relief grant applicants per minute
Briefly News previously reported that when the application platform for the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant went online it was inundated with applications from South Africans.
The Head of Communication at the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa), Paseka Letsatsi, said that at one point it was estimated that the system was processing 2 000 applications per minute.
SABC reported that R26.7 billion had been earmarked by Government for the grants and that Sassa is looking at alternative ways for citizens to access the grant.
Sassa partnering with retailers and banks
eNCA reported that Sassa is partnering with banks and retailers to facilitate pay points for people that are more accessible.
The payments are expected to be made to applicants in the last week of August.
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Source: Briefly News
