Cape Town - Thousands of Khayelitsha residents and those from the surrounds serviced by a Sassa facility at Khayelitsha Shared Services Building in Julius Tsolo Street, have been left in limbo as the facility has closed down due to renovations.
Sassa was sharing the building with the Social Development department which has started with the renovations, that are expected to be completed next year.
Khayelitsha Development Forum chairperson Ndithini Thyido said Sassa’s management had known all along that the offices they had been “squatting” in were going to be renovated, yet no provision was made to anticipate such an eventuality.
Thyido said this was not communicated to the public or community structures and that no immediate alternative site had been identified.
“More than 120 000 different social grant beneficiaries' livelihoods have once again been disrupted by the seeming out of depths of the Western Cape Sassa management or lack of empathy for the people they serve. This is a monumental management failure,” he said.
Black Sash regional manager, Thandi Henkeman said the move should have been postponed until Sassa had identified an alternative site and had worked on a communication plan with the residents.
Henkeman said the impact that this unannounced and sudden closure of the only servicing Sassa office in Khayelitsha, would be profound.
However, Department of Social Development spokesperson Esther Lewis assured that its services to its clients would continue from its regional office at the Khayelitsha Shared Services Building.
“Social workers have informed their clients of the move and have booked their appointments accordingly. Signs have been placed on the building to direct new walk-in clients to the new location, which is within walking distance from the local office,” she said.
Sassa Provincial spokesperson Shivani Wahab said since March, Sassa had been working towards identifying suitable alternative accommodation to enable services to continue.
She said City halls were identified as an alternative but were found to be non-compliant in respect of stipulated Occupational Health and Safety standards.
“To date, Sassa has also contacted sub-council 10 to assist with the identification of alternative accommodation. Sassa has further submitted the necessary documents for the application for sub-council 26 offices located at Kuyasa Library and is currently awaiting feedback from the City on this.
“In addition to this, we signed a lease agreement for a site in Khayelitsha known as Bikitsha. Sassa also has two procurement instructions with the National Department of Public Works, which are in process of completion,” she said.
Wahab said clients would be redirected to the nearest Sassa offices in Mitchells Plain, Gugulethu, Eerste River, and in town and an Outreach Programme would be further implemented.
She said Sassa would meet with Khayelitsha stakeholders to update them on the latest developments in respect of business continuity.