Johannesburg - The National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union said on Monday it would this week embark on a national strike at the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) due to an impasse over the migration of the grants payment system from Cash Paymaster Services to the Post Office and challenges from the biometric enrolment of beneficiaries.
"It has been our understanding that the strike remains a last resort after exhausting all available avenues including seeking an intervention from the Minister of Social Development, Honourable Susan Shabangu," Nehawu general-secretary Zola Saphetha said.
"Our intention has been consistently resolving issues amicably during negotiations, but the intransigence and arrogance of the Sassa management resulted into one option, the total shutdown of all Sassa workplaces."
Nehawu argues that the implementation of the social pensions system was rushed and that the system is still not equipped to deal with "ghost" beneficiaries and with corruption, despite Sassa's claims otherwise.
Saphetha said Nehawu would raise the issue of the strike, set to begin on Wednesday, during a special central executive committee meeting of the Congress of South African Trade Unions starting on Monday.