REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA COMBINED SECOND PERIODIC REPORT UNDER THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN AND PEOPLE`S RIGHTS and INITIAL REPORT UNDER THE PROTOCOL TO THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN AFRICA beneficiaries would be found amongst children and older people. Grants are generally means-tested and do not discriminate on the basis of race or gender. This was however not always the case for old age grants as men formerly only became eligible to be considered for grants at the age of 65 years compared to 60 years for females. 435. The discrepancy was subsequently corrected through the Social Assistance Amendment Act, 2008229 in which the eligibility age for men was incrementally reduced from 65 to 63 in 2008, 61 in 2009 and finally, 60 in 2010. Although men from 2010 benefited equally with females, the former practice has led to a situation in which women were significantly more likely to be grant beneficiaries than men. 436. The grant is administered by the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) established under the South African Social Security Agency Act, 2004.230 Since the enactment of Social Assistance Act the number of older persons receiving the older person’s grant has been growing, as indicated in Table 13 below. By December 2013 some 2 938 214 persons were receiving an older person’s grant. Table 13: Growth in the number of persons receiving an older persons grant 229 230 Year No of older persons who received older person’s grant 2002/03 1 943 248 2003/04 2 050 572 2004/05 2 124 984 2005/06 2 146 344 2006/07 2 195 018 2007/08 2 229 550 2008/09 2 390 543 2009/10 2 546 657 2010/11 2 678 554 2011/12 2 750 857 2012/13 2 873 197 Act No. 6 of 2008 Act No. 9 of 2004 119

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