SASSA Pensioners Get No October Top-Up Despite Months of Marching for R5 000
- SASSA pensioners received no increase in October 2026, the first time in two years that no top-up was paid
- Pensioners had been marching on Parliament for months, pushing for a monthly grant of R5 000
- Treasury budget figures suggest a possible R100 increase could arrive in April 2027
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SASSA pensioners who had held out hope for an eleventh-hour boost were dealt a harsh reality check when October's payment date passed without a single cent added to their grants.
Friday, 2 October 2026, came and went, and for the first time in two years, there was no top-up. The Old-Age Grant remained exactly where it had been since April 2026: R2,400 for beneficiaries aged 60 to 74, and R2,420 for those 75 and older.
The news stings even more given how hard pensioners had been pushing for change. Throughout 2026, groups of elderly South Africans marched on Parliament, demanding a monthly grant of R5,000. Their calls found an unlikely echo in EFF leader Julius Malema, who pledged R4,500 a month on the campaign trail. Despite this groundswell, SASSA remained silent, and hopes of an October reprieve faded into nothing.
A year of rising costs and little relief
The R80 increase granted earlier in 2026 had already proven insufficient for many pensioners, who watched the cost of living climb well beyond what that modest bump could address. With global pressures adding to local price increases, many older South Africans have found their grants stretched to breaking point.
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What 2027 could hold for pensioners?
There is, perhaps, a sliver of hope on the horizon. An analysis of National Treasury's own published budget figures paints a slightly more encouraging picture for the year ahead.
The numbers show the Old-Age Grant budget growing from R121.8 billion in 2026 to a projected R129.6 billion in 2027. At the same time, the beneficiary count is expected to grow far more slowly, from 4.26 million to 4.33 million. The gap between those two growth rates, 6.20% for the budget versus just 1.62% for beneficiaries, is wider than in previous years, which is what ultimately determines the size of any per-person increase.
If that gap translates into a real-terms increase, pensioners could be looking at a rise of roughly R100, pushing the Old-Age Grant to approximately R2,500 for those aged 60 to 74, and R2,520 for those 75 and older, from April 2027. Nothing has been confirmed by SASSA, and five months leaves plenty of room for circumstances to shift.
For now, millions of South African pensioners are left waiting, their grants unchanged and their patience tested.
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More on taxes, pensioners and SASSA in South Africa
- Briefly News recently reported on a major win for taxpayers against SARS and the sectors that could benefit from the ruling.
- The City of Johannesburg has launched a relief campaign for pensioners, and some seniors could qualify for a full rebate.
- Scammers are quietly draining elderly South Africans' grant accounts, and many only find out when their payment arrives short.
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Source: Briefly News
