A R350 per month grant announced in April by President Cyril Ramaphosa as relief for poor families hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic will only be paid out until the end of next month, the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) said.

By the the beginning of August, just 4.4-million people had received the Social Relief of Distress grants meant for citizens unemployed during a nationwide lockdown enforced in response to the virus outbreak, although an estimated eight to 15-million were eligible.

In October, Ramaphosa extended the programme, with had been meant to end that month, by a further three.

In a statement on Tuesday, Sassa director of marketing and communications Shivani Wahab said the Covid-19 grant would only be paid until the end of January 2021.

“Sassa has determined a cut-off date for lodging appeals in respect of declined Covid-19 grant applications,” Wahab said.

“The purpose of this is to strengthen administrative controls in the management of this social grant and to give effect to a conducive environment for accounting.”

She said appeals relating to applications made between November and January should be lodged on or before February 28.

“Applicants that are aggrieved by the decision to decline their applications are requested to provide reasons why they think the Sassa decision was incorrect or provide a motivation when lodging their appeals,” said Wahab.

“All appeals will be treated in a fair and transparent manner to ensure a high standard of administrative justice is maintained in the administration of social grants.”