Defending the Constitutional right to social protection Hands off our grants: Defending the constitutional right to social protection examines the root causes of unauthorised, fraudulent and allegedly unlawful deductions from the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa)-branded bank accounts into which monthly welfare grants were paid for South Africa’s poorest citizens. South Africa has one of the largest social assistance systems in the world. Today, the livelihoods of millions of poor people, particularly those living in rural and peri urban areas, are dependent on it and it has been lauded as one of the important achievements of the post-apartheid government.