Pretoria - Pensioner Aaron Mnguni went home exhausted, hungry and deeply disappointed on Tuesday, after officials failed him once again.
This was after his efforts to reinstate his old-age grant failed. In fact, according to the government system, he is dead.
Officials at the South African SA Social Service Agency (Sassa) officials were unable to help him, while Soshanguve police refused to help him open a fraud case.
A hungry Mnguni and his daughter Ester Ndlovu had had nothing to eat when they decided to go home just after midday, having given up hope of getting help.
They had turned to Pretoria News for help. They left had their Soshanguve home and were on their way to the Sassa head office in town just after 6am, hoping to get Mnguni’s pension payout reinstated.
“There’s hardly enough to eat at home, so we were forced to leave on empty stomachs this morning, in the hope we’d get some of my dad’s money,” Ndlovu said.
But they had to leave Sassa’s offices empty-handed and befuddled as indications were that the money was being withdrawn by someone else.
They then went to the police station in Soshanguve to open a case regarding the fraudulent activity.
“They told us they could not help us because we had no documentation to prove this, even when we explained that the information had come from Sassa,” said Ndlovu.
Indications were that Net 1, a company apparantly linked to Sassa, had been withdrawing Mnguni’s money.
“He had taken a loan with Net 1, and the payment was R200 a month, but it is not clear why they would withdraw the entire R1 400 for the four months he had not been able to access his money,” Ndlovu said.
The sad tale of the family who live in abject poverty due to the failure to access the grant, dates back to the beginning of June.
At the time 68-year-old Mnguni’s card was retained by an ATM at Soshanguve Plaza when he tried to withdraw money. When he applied for a new Sassa card he was asked to first get a new ID.
“The one he had, had oil spatters on it,” his daughter explained.
The document was issued three weeks later, but when he and his daughter went back to Sassa to get a new pension payout card, they were shocked when told that he appeared as deceased on the system – so his grant had been discontinued.
“We ran around and got documentation, including affidavits from police to prove that he was alive and submitted them early in August.”
On September 1, there was no money in Mnguni’s account, and they were told to wait until October.
By then the family had incurred debt, having begged and borrowed money, assured in the knowledge that his pension money had accumulated over four months.
But yet again there was no money in the account yet again: “There was a balance of 46 cents,” said Ndlovu.
On Monday they went to the local community hall where Sassa officials were paying out pensions, and they but were told Mnguni’s fingerprints were not on the system.
They were advised to go to head office in town.
On arrival they were accused by officials of lying… saying the elderly man had all along been withdrawing his money as indicated by the system.
“But to our surprise even as we argued our point, one of them noticed a withdrawal being made on my father’s account.
“They checked and said an employee of Net 1 had a card authorised to my father and was making the withdrawals.
“Sassa officials told them to go to Net 1 and ask them what was going on, so the family got into onto a taxi and went via the police station.
“We wanted to ask them to help us investigate the withdrawals but they turned us away, saying we needed documents to prove our case.
“At Net 1 the distraught family was told to first report the matter to the police.”
They said this would to “enable them to investigate our claims”.
“Right now we have lost all hope.”
A family friend who has been accompanying and assisting them as they were sent from pillar to post for the past four months trying to get the old man’s pension paid to him, said the old man’s his face fell and he was deeply his whole demeanour took a disappointed turn then.
She said: “Four months of running around for nothing, being told he was dead and then doing all he could to prove he was alive; and then finding out his card had probably been cloned and then not being helped by those in authority took its toll on him, he was crestfallen.”
Sassa spokesman Thomas Huma had not responded to questions on Mnguni’s situation late on Tuesday afternoon, and neither had the office of Net 1.
The dejected father and daughter returned home to empty cupboards and a neighbourhood where they owed almost everyone money. “Who do we turn to, how do we make this problem go away and get the money reinstated?” Ndlovu asked.
Police spokesman Warrant Officer Mathews Nkoadi said: “A case of fraud should have been opened immediately.”