SASSA News — July 2026
A new study published in the first week of July 2026 has found measurable harm to the mental health of South African teenagers when the Child Support Grant is removed — and researchers say SASSA’s ongoing biometric fraud crackdown may be deepening that harm for legitimate young beneficiaries caught in the system.
Researchers from Stellenbosch University and Erasmus University Rotterdam — Tsepang Khumalo, Ronelle Burger, and Marisa von Fintel — tracked approximately 8,000 South African adolescents who aged out of or lost access to the Child Support Grant.
Their key finding: teenagers who lost the Child Support Grant scored on average 1.73 points higher on the CES-D depression scale (Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale) than peers of the same age who continued to receive the grant.
The CES-D is a validated clinical tool used to measure depressive symptoms. A difference of 1.73 points is statistically meaningful — comparable to the effect of other significant adverse life events studied in similar cohorts.
The research was published in TimesLive on 4 July 2026 and followed up on 7 July 2026 with a second report linking the findings to the current policy environment.
The Child Support Grant provides R580 per month (from April 2026) for children under 18 who meet SASSA’s means test. It is one of the most widely received grants in South Africa, reaching millions of households.
For many families, the Child Support Grant is not supplementary income — it is the primary source of food, school supplies, and transport for the children it covers. For teenagers approaching 18, aging out of the grant represents an abrupt financial cliff.
A TimesLive follow-up report on 7 July 2026 connected the mental health research directly to a concerning policy reality: the Department of Social Development underspent on grants by R4.8 billion in the 2025/26 financial year, largely due to the compliance and verification measures rolled out as part of SASSA’s biometric fraud crackdown.
Tens of thousands of Child Support Grant recipients were among the 67,868 grants suspended during the biometric verification drive — 37,825 of the suspended grants were Child Support Grants, the largest single category affected.
SASSA has maintained that only fraudulent or unverifiable grants are being suspended, and that legitimate beneficiaries who complete biometric verification will have their grants reinstated within 5 working days.
But the researchers and the #PayTheGrants advocacy group point to a documented catch-22: when the eKYC biometric system was taken offline for “enhancements,” legitimate beneficiaries who had been incorrectly flagged could not verify themselves. Some waited weeks without income.
For teenagers already at risk of depression, a gap of even a few weeks in receiving the Child Support Grant may have measurable consequences — exactly what this study’s findings suggest.
The research raises a question that Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Social Development has not yet fully answered: at what point does the cost of the fraud crackdown exceed the cost of the fraud itself?
SASSA’s biometric drive has recovered over R1 billion in fraudulent payments and is projected to save R341 million annually from lapsed fraudulent grants. These are real gains.
But the R4.8 billion in grant underspend — money budgeted for legitimate beneficiaries that was not paid out — is also real. And if the Stellenbosch/Erasmus research is correct, some of that underspend has come at a cost to the mental health of young South Africans who should have been protected.
If your child’s Child Support Grant has been suspended or is showing as “Referred”:
The Child Support Grant is R580 per month from April 2026, for children under 18 in households that meet SASSA’s means test.
SASSA suspended 37,825 Child Support Grants during its 2026 biometric verification drive. If your grant was suspended, visit your nearest SASSA office with your ID and your child’s birth certificate to complete biometric verification. Legitimate beneficiaries are reinstated within 5 working days.
Visit your nearest SASSA office, call 0800 60 10 11, or submit an appeal online at sassa.gov.za. If SASSA does not respond within 90 days, you can escalate to the Independent Tribunal for Social Assistance Appeals (ITSAA).
Sources
TimesLive — “Study finds loss of child support grant damages mental health” — 4 July 2026
TimesLive — “How social grant fraud crackdown could worsen teen depression” — 7 July 2026
IOL — “SASSA’s biometric rollout leaves thousands without grants amid fraud crackdown” — May 2026
GroundUp — “SASSA expects R341 million saving in lapsed grants” — 2025
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