SASSA Facial-Verification Failures Disrupt Social Grant Access in South Africa
SASSA's e-Life Certification biometric verification system experienced technical failures that disrupted social grant beneficiary access, causing long queues at offices and resulting in approximately 68,000 grant suspensions. The system glitches in the platform's interdepartmental connections prevented beneficiaries from completing mandatory life certification online.
What happened
SASSA implemented the e-Life Certification system, a self-service digital platform using biometric verification through the electronic Know Your Client (eKYC) system, to conduct mandatory life certification for social grant beneficiaries starting in September 2025.
System glitches in the e-Life Certification platform caused delays and disruptions in completing life certification, leading to long queues at SASSA offices and preventing some beneficiaries from accessing the self-service portal.
By March 2026, approximately one million beneficiaries had been processed through the biometric verification rollout across SASSA's 432 offices, with 67,868 grants suspended in the third quarter alone due to non-compliance with the verification process.
Reported impact
Beneficiaries were unable to access the e-Life Certification self-service portal and faced long queues at SASSA offices, incurring transport costs and time delays to complete mandatory life certification.
Nearly 68,000 grants were suspended under the biometric rollout due to beneficiaries' failure to comply with the verification notification, affecting their access to social assistance.
Index analysis
The e-Life Certification system relied on system interfaces with other departments; system glitches in these interdepartmental connections caused the platform failures and service disruptions.
The biometric verification process was intended to prevent identity fraud and ensure only qualifying beneficiaries remained on the system, but implementation failures created barriers to legitimate beneficiary access.
Governance controls
SASSA stated that communication and notification processes governing the mandatory verification are guided by existing regulations under the Social Assistance Act, though the department confirmed no standalone research report has been conducted on communication effectiveness.
SASSA outlined a structured enforcement process in which grants are suspended 2 months after a beneficiary is notified to conduct a review and has not yet done so, with suspensions and lapses tracked quarterly.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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