HOW many SASSA pensioners are still working after retirement age?

How many SASSA pensioners do you know who continue to work beyond their so-called ‘retirement’ age? Off hand, this author counts at least three, working in stores/positions that could just as easily hire a young first-time school leaver in the role …

In fact, South Africa’s elderly population (over 60) is growing fast. From 3.6-million people in 2002 to 6.6 million by 2025, according to Stats SA. However, what’s even more striking in the recent Healthy Ageing in South Africa report, is how many of them are still working.

HOW MANY SASSA PENSIONERS ARE STILL WORKING?

Stats SA’s data – last calculated in 2024 – shows salaries and wages as the primary income source for 21% of SASSA pensioners. As in, of all Older Person-headed households, only 60% rely solely on South African Social Security Agency grants. Therefore, roughly 1.3-million elderly are still working beyond retirement age. That’s a genuinely significant share of households.

Except, here’s the catch, because that 21% and 1.3 million almost certainly understates the real figure. SASSA’s means test for Older Person Grants punishes honesty about employment. Admit to earning anything like a sizeable income and you risk losing the grant entirely.

ADMIT NOTHING

Uncertainty over next month’s payment dates persists because of the clash with November Local Government Elections. Image: File

As former Capitec CEO Gerrie Fourie put it bluntly, “the moment that they say, ‘I’m employed’, they risk losing all their social grants. There is no way they are going to answer: employed in the application.” Capitec’s own banking data has found grant recipients earning roughly five times their grant amount through income the agency never sees.

Cash-in-hand work, informal trading, casual labour, paid directly and never banked, simply doesn’t show up in official income reviews for SASSA pensioners. As such, the real proportion of elders still working is meaningfully higher than any official figure captured by Stats SA.

WHY SASSA PENSIONERS CAN’T AFFORD TO STOP

The pressure behind this is structural, the National Treasury has previously found that only 6% of South Africans can afford to retire comfortably at age 60. And a recent African Workforce survey found roughly half of South African workers now expect to work beyond their formal retirement age, treating it as anything but finishing line.

As we hear from our readers all the time, for most, there simply isn’t enough saved. However, Older Person Grants were never designed to replace a full income. Plus, October 2026 marked the first time in two years that SASSA did not deliver any top-up to Older Person Grants. Therefore, these sit unchanged at R2 400 and R2 420 since April 2026. So, the financial pressure is on like never before …

But what do you think? Are you one of the millions of SASSA pensioners forced to work beyond retirement age? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below …