Sassa debacle: 'I don't want to be a fool on April 1'

Social grant beneficiaries protesting outside the Sassa office in uMlazi, adding their voices to the uproar about the payout crisis and calls for the minister to be axed. Picture: Sibonelo Ngcobo/The Mercury

Social grant beneficiaries protesting outside the Sassa office in uMlazi, adding their voices to the uproar about the payout crisis and calls for the minister to be axed. Picture: Sibonelo Ngcobo/The Mercury

Published Mar 10, 2017

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Durban – Durban beneficiaries say if the grant “crisis” leads to them not being paid, it will mean they “literally starve.”

“I don’t want to be a fool on April 1 when I go withdraw money and there is nothing there. The first thing I do is buy food because by the end of the month, the fridge is empty,” said Maria Phungula.

The 63-year-old from uMlazi is one of the more than 660 000 people in KZN who receive the old age grant, which from next month will be R1 600.

She and other beneficiaries protested outside the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) offices in uMlazi, led by the Right2Know Campaign.

Despite assurances by Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini and President Jacob Zuma that grants will be paid out, these beneficiaries called for her to be axed for “flouting her responsibility to the poor”.

They blamed her and her department for not making arrangements for payouts after the contract with Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) was declared invalid by the Constitutional Court.

Referring to the 2014 judgement, Ngazini Ngidi, R2K’s KZN co-ordinator, said the department had three years to prepare but had not, risking the payment of social grants to 17 million people who depended on this money for food.

Phungula said when she left her job as a domestic worker she earned R1 200, half of the minimum wage.

With no pension or savings, Phungula signed up for the old-age social grant three years ago.

With this, she supports her two adult sons, who – because of her meagre salary and being unable to further their studies – work only at piecemeal jobs.

“Everything needs money nowadays. After I do the groceries and buy an electricity card, I have to keep money aside for bread for the grandchildren for the month. By the last week of the month, I struggle to feed them a proper meal,” said Phungula. Her husband does not yet earn the grant as a Home Affairs bungle had him registered as having been born nine years later than he was.

KZN has more than 240 000 disability grant recipients.

Among the requirements to receive this grant is a medical or assessment report confirming disability.

Zakithi Chili, 56, was approved for this grant two years ago.

She lives in an informal settlement without running water and buys pre-paid electricity, yet there were deductions for water and electricity from her pension every month.

“I have tried to get this resolved for months, but I am sent from pillar to post. I just have to live with receiving less money for utilities I don’t use,” she said.

This money could be used for her fare to travel to and from hospital for her chemotherapy every month.

The protesters delivered a memorandum calling for Dlamini’s head.

“Her conduct has shown that she cannot be trusted with this responsibility, she must resign or be fired,” it read.

The memorandum was accepted by Sassa spokesperson Mbizeni Mdlalose.

He assured the protesters that their grants would be paid on time.

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The Mercury

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