Durban – As the Sassa grant payout debacle played out at the Constitutional Court on Wednesday, Durban NGOs committed to continue services but warned that if the matter was not resolved, they would be forced to make “tough decisions”.
“It will leave us in a dire situation; we might have to close some branches, but we can’t throw out our patients,” said Nirode Bramdaw, director of the Aryan Benevolent Home (ABH).
Margie Smith, the chief executive of The Association for the Aged (Tafta), said services to their elderly residents would not stop. “We will make a plan to make sure they receive the care they require, but that’s a short-term solution which can’t be sustained,” she said.
These are among many organisations which house vulnerable people dependent on government grants.
Bramdaw said that as the uncertainty about the payment of social grants grew, he and other ABH board members had held countless “crisis planning” meetings “trying to find ways to pre-empt the real possibility that wwe might have to shut some of the homes”.
The organisation cares for more than 1 000 elderly physically and mentally challenged people, orphans and vulnerable children as well as survivors of abuse in homes around the province, Gauteng and the Western Cape.
They receive various types of grants, including the old age, foster care and disability grants for their residents.
“Frail care residents need 24-hour care. Funds from grants are taken on a sliding scale depending on how much care the patient requires. The remainder is paid out to them by us. We already run on the rim. It’s a daily challenge,” said Bramdaw.
A state subsidy takes care of 30% of ABH’s operating costs.
The largest portion is contributed by donors and a smaller, yet significant portion, is paid by the residents through their social grants, which the organisation receives directly from Sassa.
“We are already operating on a deficit,” Brandaw said. Their biggest expenses were staff, followed by catering and cleaning.
“We need all those things to provide a certain level of service. If there is no contribution from social grants, we will have no choice but to cut back services, close certain facilities and move patients to our headquarters."
“That means removing them from familiar environments, where some are close to family, to Chatsworth."
“That will also mean job losses and the expectation for more work from fewer staff.”
More than 1 500 pensioners live at the various Tafta residences around Durban, and a portion of their pensions is used for board and lodging.
And some, even though they live at Tafta, support their families with the same pension.
For the organisation and its residents, the grants payment debacle has caused much anxiety.
“We all wish for a speedy, efficient and viable solution to this – and there are so many people who could put their heads together this is not rocket science,” said Smith.