If your Older Persons, Disability, Child Support, Care Dependency, or Foster Care grant is declined, suspended, or stopped, you have the right to appeal. There are two steps.
Step 1: Ask SASSA to look again
Write a letter called an "Application for Reconsideration" and hand it to SASSA within 90 days of receiving the rejection. A senior SASSA official who was not involved in the first decision will review your file. SASSA has 90 days to decide. If they do not reply in time, the rejection is treated as confirmed, and you can move to Step 2.
Step 2: Appeal to the Independent Tribunal (ITSAA)
If SASSA still says no (or does not reply), you can appeal to the Independent Tribunal for Social Assistance Appeals (ITSAA) within 90 days of that decision.
- Include proof of your original application, SASSA's rejection letter, proof of your income and assets, and (for disability) your medical reports.
- ITSAA does not hold in-person hearings — it reviews your file and checks it against its own records.
- ITSAA must finish within 60 to 90 days.
- ITSAA can uphold, change, or cancel SASSA's decision.
Contact ITSAA: Tel 012 312 7727, Email grantappeals@dsd.gov.za.
If ITSAA also says no
Your last option is to take your case to the High Court for a judicial review, within 180 days of the ITSAA decision. The Court does not decide if you are poor enough — it only checks whether SASSA and ITSAA followed the correct process fairly.