SASSA Essentials

SASSA (the South African Social Security Agency) administers every non-contributory social grant in South Africa, from the Old Age Pension to the R370 SRD grant. This section covers the everyday questions beneficiaries ask most: which phone numbers are actually official, whether the WhatsApp channel really works, what USSD codes currently do and do not exist, how the local and provincial offices operate, and the difference between an old SASSA Gold card and the new Postbank black card. The 2026 landscape shifted after the Post Office lost its SASSA payment role and Postbank took over card issuance. Some third-party sites still cite defunct numbers and dead USSD codes. Every entry here is checked against sassa.gov.za and the SRD portal at srd.sassa.gov.za before publishing. If a channel is unverified or contested, we say so instead of guessing. Use these guides to confirm the correct official channel before you call, message, or dial anything that claims to be SASSA.