War Veterans’ Grant, WVG
Basic Information
Country
Geographic area
Institutions and agencies involved
Population group
Elderly persons
Programme Details
Programme objectives
To assist war veterans who are not able to support themselves.
Coverage
Programme expenditure
Targeting and eligiblity
Targeting methods
Targeted areas
Target groups
Elderly war veterans who fought in the Second World War or the Korean War and are unable to support themselves.
Eligibility criteria
(i) The applicant must be a South African citizen / permanent resident.
(ii) The applicant must be a resident in South Africa.
(iii) The applicant must be 60 years and over or must be disabled.
(iv) The applicant must have fought in the Second World War or the Korean War.
(v) The applicant and spouse must meet the requirements of the means test.*
(vi) The applicant must not be maintained or cared for in a State Institution.
(vii) The applicant must not be in receipt of another social grant in respect of himself or herself.
* The means test changes every year and for the war veteran's grant and depends on the applicant income, if they are not married and on the income of both them and their spouse if they are married.
** Not earn more than R 86 280 if they are single or R172 560 if they are married.
** Not have assets worth more than R 1 227 600 if they are single or R 2 455 200 if they are married.
(i) South African Social Security Agency. N.d. War Veterans Grant. Accessed: 10 October 2023. Accessible: https://www.sassa.gov.za/Pages/War-Veteran's-Grant.aspx
(ii) Western Cape Government. 2018. War Veteran's Grants. Accessed: 10 October 2023. Accessible: https://www.westerncape.gov.za/service/war-veterans-grants .
(iii) South African Government. n.d. War Veteran's Grants. Accessed: 10 October 2023. Accessible: https://www.gov.za/services/social-benefits-retirement-and-old-age/war-veterans-grant
Eligibility reassessment (if any)
The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) is responsible for reviewing eligibility criteria, such as the declared income of the beneficiary. Beneficiaries must also present life certificates. It will be suspended: (i) when the beneficiaries’ circumstances change, (ii) the outcome of a review, (iii) if they fail to co-operate when their grant is reviewed, (iv) when they commit fraud or misrepresent themselves and (v) if there was a mistake when their grant was approved.
Coverage and other information
Type of benefits
Amount of benefits
R 2 110 (this payment amount is the current amount as of 1 October 2023 – amounts are subject to change in April and October every year)
(i) South African Government. n.d. War Veteran's Grants. Accessed: 10 October 2023. Accessible: https://www.gov.za/services/social-benefits-retirement-and-old-age/war-veterans-grant
(ii) Bursaries South Africa. 2023. SASSA Payment Dates for 2023 and 2024. Accessed 13 October 2023.
Accessible: https://www.zabursaries.co.za/bursary-news/sassa-payment-dates/#:~:text=This%20grant%20is%20given%20to,and%20how%20to%20apply%20here
Payment/delivery frequency
Benefit delivery mechanism
Grants are paid by SASSA through the following methods: (i) cash at a specific pay point on a particular day, (ii) electronic deposit into beneficiaries'’ bank or Postbank account and (iii) an institution acting as administrator of the grant e.g. a welfare organisation.
Benefit recipients
Themselves/ If they are unable to collect the money themselves, they can appoint a procurator at the SASSA office, or give someone power of attorney to collect the grant on their behalf.
Minimum and maximum duration of benefits (if any)
Beneficiaries must meet the requirements of the means test. The grant will lapse in the case of (i) death, (ii) admission to a state institution, (iii) if the grant is not claimed for three consecutive months and (iv) when the beneficiary is absent from the country.
Monitoring and evaluation mechanisms and frequency
Social assistance baseline indicators are set every five years in the national strategy and implemented through the Annual Performance Plans. There is a monitoring framework embedded in the five year strategies and the annual performance plans, but there is not an integrated monitoring and evaluation system at national/local levels.
Legal Framework
MIS
The information system used to manage the social grants is called the Social Grant Payment System (SOCPEN) and is mainly used for: (i) processing applications for the old age, disability, war veterans, child support, foster child and care dependency grants, (ii) generating a pay file monthly for the approximately 17 million grants and (iii) automatically producing a list of beneficiaries due to be reassessed.