How to change your SRD cellphone number

SASSA uses the cellphone number on your SRD application to identify you and to send one-time PINs, verification links and status messages. If you lose that number, you can miss messages, and someone else could receive them.

When to change your number

Change it when:

• your SIM was lost or stolen,
• you can’t use the old number any more,
• the number on your application was typed wrong, or
• someone else controls the number on your application.

Don’t change a working number just because a payment is late. SASSA has warned that changing contact numbers and banking details again and again delays payment.

How to change your number

1. Online, for South African ID holders: on the SRD website, choose “Change Mobile Number”. It first checks that you are the original applicant: you enter your ID number, and it asks for the last four digits of the bank account on your application. By phone: call the SASSA call centre on 0800 60 10 11. The SRD website says to call this number when the number SASSA should use is not the one you applied with.
2. Explain that the number on your SRD application is wrong or no longer yours, and answer the questions about your application truthfully.
3. Give your new number when asked. Use a number registered in your own name: SASSA asks applicants to use numbers registered under their names.
4. Complete the facial check (eKYC) when SASSA sends you the link. SASSA’s grant booklet says a number change needs it.
5. Save any reference number, and later check your SRD status to confirm the change.

The steps can change. Follow what SASSA tells you on the call and on the SRD website.

What to have ready

• Your ID number, or the permit or file number you applied with.
• The old number, if you know it.
• A new number that you will keep, in your own name.
• A phone with a working camera and data for the facial check.

The facial check

Use good light, a clean camera lens and your own face. Open only a link that belongs to a request you made. If the check fails, see what to do when identity verification fails. If you have no smartphone or data, SASSA has said its offices can help you do the check.

If your SIM was stolen

Ask your network to block the SIM straight away. The same number may receive one-time PINs for your bank, email and other accounts, so change passwords you reuse. If you think someone changed your SRD number without permission, tell SASSA and report it on 0800 701 701.

Your number and your bank account are separate

A new cellphone number doesn’t change your bank account. If SASSA also asks for banking details, see how to change SRD banking details.

Avoid these mistakes

• Opening a second application with the new number.
• Using a shop assistant’s or a helper’s phone number.
• Asking someone to forward one-time PINs to you.
• Sharing your one-time PIN with anyone who calls you.
• Paying someone to change the number for you.