Answers to your questions

Have a question you would like answered? Email us and we may answer it. The questions here are based on ones from our readers, with identifying information removed.

Please note: GroundUp is just a news agency. We are not lawyers or financial advisors, and we have nothing to do with SASSA, Home Affairs, or any other government bodies. We do our best to make the answers accurate using publicly available information, but we cannot accept any legal liability if there are errors. If you notice any discrepancies, please email info@groundup.org.za.

How can I check if my mother's RDP house was sold illegally?

You will need to visit municipal housing office where your mother applied to ask them whether you would be able to claim back her RDP.

Housing Inheritance

Where can I complain about poor conditions at a prison?

You can contact the Judicial Inspectorate of Correctional Services or the ICCV complaint office at the prison.

Human Rights Prisons

Can I apply for South African citizenship if I was born here to foreign national parents but left before I turned 16?

Generally you can only apply for citizenship through naturalisation if you've only lived in South Africa until you were 18, but you could ask Home Affairs for an exception.

Home Affairs Immigration

I tried to register my son a month after he turned 18 for an SRD grant but the website says his ID and grant is already active. What can we do?

SASSA says that if you suspect wrongdoing like that, you must immediately contact their fraud hotline at 0800 601 011, and give them the ID number.

Sassa Social Grants

Can a child with a disability claim from their deceased parent's government employee pension fund even if they are older than 22?

If a child is disabled and was financially dependent on the GEPF member, that child would receive a lifelong pension.

Inheritance

My late father used another child's birth certificate to apply for an RDP house. The child was listed as the beneficiary and has passed. What can I do to correct this?

Go to your housing municipality and confirm that the birth certificate used was fraudulent and then file a formal complaint.

Housing Inheritance

Can ex-mineworkers from the Newcastle Platberg Platinum mine claim money from the Tshiamiso Trust?

No, but you can apply for compensation under ODMWA. You can also ask for help from the Q(h)ubeka Trust.

Mining Silicosis case

My father worked at a mine, he got sick at work and passed away in 2001. Is there any way we can claim compensation?

To get compensation, a former miner would have to have got either silicosis or TB through their work at qualifying mines between 12 March 1965 and 10 December 2019.

Inheritance Mining Silicosis case TB

I’m a foreign national with a child out of wedlock with a South African. My name isn’t on the birth certificate, how can I add it and change the child’s surname to mine?

You can apply to change the child's surname and add your name on their birth certificate at Home Affairs, with the mother's consent.

Home Affairs

The company I work for has not paid us. Many of my colleagues are foreigners and some do not have IDs. Please help us.

You can take the matter to the CCMA or Labour Department. Unfortunately, getting payment will be more difficult for undocumented foreign nationals.

Labour