What is War Veterans Grant by SASSA? and its Criteria

You apply for the SASSA War Veterans Grant in person at your nearest SASSA office. There is no form to download and no online application to fill in, and the Post Office does not take these applications. You walk in with your ID and your proof of war service, a SASSA officer completes the form with you, and you leave with a receipt. Processing takes up to three months, and if you are approved, SASSA backdates your payments to the day you applied.

The grant pays R2,420 a month from 1 April 2026. To qualify you must have fought in the Second World War (1939 to 1945) or the Korean War (1950 to 1953), be 60 or older or unable to work because of a disability, live in South Africa as a citizen or permanent resident, pass the means test, not already receive another social grant for yourself, and not be cared for in a state institution.

That last paragraph is the whole grant in one breath. The rest of this page fills in the detail.

If You Served After 1953, This Is Not Your Grant

This is the most important thing on this page, and almost nobody says it clearly.

The SASSA War Veterans Grant covers two conflicts and only two conflicts: the Second World War and the Korean War. It does not cover the Border War. It does not cover Umkhonto we Sizwe, APLA, or any other liberation movement. It does not cover SANDF service, peacekeeping deployments, or SADF conscription. You will see other websites list all of those. They are wrong, and following them will waste a trip to a SASSA office.

If you served in the liberation wars between 1960 and 1994, the benefit you are looking for is the Military Veterans Pension, which is a completely separate thing. It falls under the Military Veterans Act 18 of 2011, it is run by the Department of Military Veterans, and applications go through the Government Pensions Administration Agency (GPAA) rather than SASSA. You need to be listed on the National Military Veterans Database first.

The two are not the same, they are not administered by the same people, and applying to the wrong one gets you nowhere. If you are unsure which side of the line you fall on, the date of your service settles it.

Be aware too that the two benefits interact awkwardly in practice. Veterans have reported the DMV pension being reduced or offset against SASSA grants they already receive, and veteran associations are contesting whether that is even lawful. If you are caught in that situation, get it in writing from both offices before you cancel anything.

Who Qualifies for the SASSA War Veterans Grant

You need to tick every one of these boxes. Missing a single one means a decline.

You are a South African citizen or permanent resident.
You live in South Africa.
You are 60 years of age or older, or you are disabled.
You fought in the Second World War (1939 to 1945) or the Korean War (1950 to 1953).
You and your spouse pass the means test.
You do not receive any other social grant for yourself.
You are not being cared for in a state institution.

A note on the disability route. If you are under 60, you can still qualify, and the disability does not have to be a war injury. You simply need a medical assessment or report saying that you cannot work. In practice this route matters very little now, because of the arithmetic. Anyone who served in the Second World War is at least in their late nineties today, and anyone who served in Korea is over 90. This is a small and shrinking grant, and SASSA officers know it.

The Means Test: Income and Asset Limits

The means test looks at what you earn and what you own. If you are married, it looks at you and your spouse together.

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Income limits

Single: not more than R86,280 a year
Married: not more than R172,560 a year between the two of you

Asset limits

Single: not more than R1,227,600
Married: not more than R2,455,200 between the two of you

One rule here saves a lot of people. If you live in a house that you or your spouse own, the value of that house is not counted as an asset. Your home does not disqualify you. Second properties, investments and savings do count.

These thresholds are reviewed and adjusted, so if you are close to the line, check the current figures at your SASSA office before you assume you are over.

How to Apply for the War Veterans Grant

Go to the SASSA office closest to where you live. That is the only place you can start this.

What to bring

Your 13-digit bar-coded ID document.
Proof of your war service, such as your certificate of service.
If you are under 60, a medical assessment or report stating that you cannot work.
Proof of your marital status. If you are single, an affidavit saying so. If you are married, your marriage certificate and your spouse’s ID. If you are divorced, your divorce order. If your spouse has died, their death certificate.
Your pay slips, if you or your spouse are employed.
Your UIF blue book or a discharge certificate from your previous employer, if you are unemployed.
Three months of bank statements, if you have a bank account.
Details of any interest or dividends you earn, if you have investments.

If you do not have an ID

You are not automatically shut out. You will need to do four things:

Complete an affidavit on the standard SASSA format, sworn in front of a Commissioner of Oaths who is not a SASSA official.
Bring a sworn statement from a reputable person who can vouch for your name and age. A councillor, traditional leader, social worker, minister of religion or school principal all count.
Bring proof that you have applied for an ID at Home Affairs.
Bring your temporary ID from Home Affairs, if you have one.

If you cannot get to the office

If you are too old or too sick to travel, a family member or a friend can apply on your behalf. They must bring a letter from you, a doctor’s note explaining why you cannot come in, or both.

At the office

The SASSA officer completes the application form with you. Only you or a SASSA official may fill it in, so do not let anyone else complete it for you outside the office. Ask the officer anything you do not understand, because that is what they are there for.

When you are done, you will be given a receipt. Keep it. It is your proof that you applied, and it is what fixes the date your payments will be backdated to.

If you want to be paid in cash at a pay point, the officer will give you a date to come back and tell you what to bring.

What Happens After You Apply

Processing can take up to three months. That is a long wait, but here is the part most people do not know: if your grant is approved, you are paid from the day you applied, not from the day it was approved. The months you spent waiting are not lost. They are back-paid.

If your application is turned down, SASSA must tell you in writing and must tell you why.

If you disagree with that decision, you can appeal to the Minister of Social Development at the national office of the Department of Social Development. You have 90 days from the date you were notified. Miss that window and you will have to start over.

The application itself is free. Nobody at SASSA may charge you for it, and anybody who asks you for money to process it is running a scam.

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How Much You Get and When You Are Paid

The War Veterans Grant is R2,420 per month, effective from 1 April 2026 for the 2026/27 financial year. That is R20 more than the R2,400 paid on the standard Older Persons Grant, and it went up by R80 in the April increase.

Grants are paid early in the month and staggered across three days. Older persons are paid first, then disability grants, then children’s grants. The War Veterans Grant is paid on the older persons date.

SASSA sets these dates using a few fixed principles. Payments are not made on the 1st of the month, not on a Monday, and not the day after a public holiday. In most months this puts the older persons payment around the 2nd.

You do not have to collect on the exact day. Once the money is in your account it stays there until you use it, so there is no reason to stand in a queue on day one.

Ignore any website telling you that your payment date depends on the last digit of your ID number. It does not, and it never has.

How You Get Paid, and the Card Deadline You Cannot Miss

SASSA pays the grant in one of three ways:

Cash at a specific pay point on a set day.
Electronic deposit into your bank or Postbank account. Your bank may charge you for this.
Through an institution acting as administrator of your grant, such as a welfare organisation.

If you cannot collect the money yourself, you can appoint a procurator at the SASSA office, or give someone power of attorney to collect on your behalf.

The Gold Card is being switched off

If your grant is paid onto an old SASSA Gold Card, you need to act now.

Postbank is permanently deactivating the Gold Card on 31 August 2026. There will be no further extension. After that date the card simply stops working, and you will not be able to reach your money until you have collected the new Postbank Black Card.

The swap is free. Take your ID to a Postbank service point, which you will find inside Shoprite, Checkers, Usave, Pick n Pay and Boxer stores, as well as at SASSA offices. Your new card works immediately, any balance left on the Gold Card moves across automatically, and you do not need to visit a SASSA office afterwards. You can collect in any province, regardless of where your grant was approved.

To find your nearest replacement site, dial *120*355# from any cellphone.

Two warnings. First, if the card does not have “Postbank” printed on the front, it is not a real Postbank Black Card. Second, no forms are involved in the swap. If someone asks you to sign or complete anything, or asks for your PIN or an OTP, walk away and call Postbank on 0800 53 54 55.

If your grant already goes into an ordinary bank account at FNB, Capitec, Standard Bank, Absa, Nedbank or similar, none of this applies to you and you do not need to do anything.

The Grant-in-Aid Top-Up

This is worth knowing and hardly anybody mentions it.

If you already receive the War Veterans Grant and you cannot look after yourself because of a physical or mental disability, so that you need full-time care from another person, you can claim the Grant-in-Aid on top of it. That is an extra R580 a month, paid together with your existing grant.

You must not be in an institution that receives a government subsidy for your care or housing. Apply at your SASSA office with a medical or assessment report, no older than three months, confirming that you need full-time care.

This is one of the very few cases where you can hold a second payment alongside the War Veterans Grant, because the Grant-in-Aid is a top-up rather than a grant in its own right.

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Reviews and the Life Certificate

SASSA can decide to review your grant, and the income you declared when you applied is what that decision is based on. You will be told three months in advance of a review, or of the date your life certificate is due.

A life certificate is simply proof that you are still alive. If you are paid through a bank, an institution or a procurator, you must complete one every year.

You can now do this online. SASSA runs an e-Life Certification service through its services portal, which uses biometric verification rather than a trip to the office. If you have a phone or computer with a camera and someone to help you through it, it saves the queue.

Take the request seriously. If SASSA asks you to complete life certification and you do not respond, the agency may treat that as a sign that you have died or that the grant is not legitimate, and your payments will be suspended until you sort it out.

When Your Grant Can Be Suspended or Lapse

These are two different things, and they get mixed up constantly.

Your grant may be suspended if:

Your circumstances change.
A review goes against you.
You fail to co-operate when your grant is reviewed.
You commit fraud or misrepresent yourself.
A mistake was made when your grant was approved.

Your grant will lapse if:

You die.
You are admitted to a state institution.
The grant is not claimed for three consecutive months.
You are absent from the country.

A suspension can usually be reversed once you fix whatever caused it. A lapse ends the grant.

That third lapse reason catches people out. If you stop collecting for three months in a row, whatever the reason, the grant falls away. If you are going to be in hospital or away for a stretch, tell SASSA first.

If You Are Admitted to an Institution

There is a specific rule here that is easy to miss. If you are admitted to an institution that has a contract with the state to care for you, your grant is reduced to 25% of the maximum amount, and that reduction starts from the fourth month after you were admitted.

The full grant is reinstated immediately from the day you are discharged. You do not have to reapply.

Where to Get Help

SASSA toll-free: 0800 60 10 11
Email: GrantEnquiries@sassa.gov.za
Postbank card queries: 0800 53 54 55
Find a card replacement site: dial *120*355#
Online services portal: services.sassa.gov.za

Check your balance at any ATM or through your bank, keeping in mind that normal bank charges may apply at an ATM. If you are unsure about anything, phone the toll-free line before you travel. A phone call is cheaper than a wasted trip.

The Bottom Line

The SASSA War Veterans Grant is narrow by design. It exists for the men who fought in the Second World War and in Korea, and it pays R2,420 a month to those of them who are still with us and cannot support themselves.

If that is you, or you are helping someone it applies to, the process is simple enough. Go to the SASSA office with your ID and your certificate of service, let the officer complete the form, keep the receipt, and wait. Approval can take three months, but your payments will be backdated to the day you walked in.

And if your service came later than 1953, do not spend months chasing the wrong grant. Start with the Department of Military Veterans instead.