Don’t bother calling SASSA; they’re planning not to answer

In its annual performance plan, the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has made a shocking revelation.

The revelation?

It wants to stop answering up to 800 000 calls.

SASSA won’t be answering calls anymore

The agency wants to update its systems. Phone calls are the first thing to go.

In its 2026/2027 Annual Report, SASSA outlines its targets to improve customer experience.

To reach that target, it wants to improve the turnaround time for resolving customer enquiries.

Unfortunately, for customers, to “improve turnaround time,” the agency plans to reduce the number of calls it answers.

In 2024-2025, the agency answered 4.8 million calls.

But by March next year, it wants to drop that number to 4.2 million, which means it will answer 600 000 fewer calls.

The plan doesn’t end there.

Every year until 2029, the agency wants to answer fewer calls, until it reaches 4 million calls a year.

The aim is for 70% of customers to complete an after-call survey. Yet it doesn’t mention how many callers should be satisfied with the service they receive.

If their history is an indicator, callers will be dissatisfied.

The agency’s customer experience is getting worse

In 2023-2024, the agency resolved 97% of enquiries in 5 days.

By 2025, that dropped to 94% of enquiries resolved in 5 days.

SASSA also plans to become less efficient at processing Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant applications.

Between 2022 and 2024, the agency processed 100% of SRD grant applications.

Yet it intends to process 95% of applications this year as SRD grant applications rise.

The agency also hasn’t maintained on-time payments for SRD grants. As of June 2026, it had only paid 89% of the grants it approved.

SASSA wants to Go Digital

All of these so-called improvements come down to SASSA’s desire to digitise.

The agency wants to replace customer care workers with AI-powered chatbots.

However, even in its plan, SASSA admits that beneficiaries may not be able to adopt these solutions because they lack digital literacy.

Many SASSA beneficiaries live in rural communities or in homes where there isn’t internet access.

These beneficiaries rely on calling the agency instead of travelling long distances to get help.

But if SASSA doesn’t want to prioritise their calls, how will they get help?