Dear Editor
An oversight visit by the Democratic Alliance (DA) to the SASSA office in Benoni this week has exposed the devastating impact of SASSA’s poorly implemented “fourth payment date” system that is meant to flag beneficiaries for verification. Instead it is throwing them into confusion and placing their social grants at risk.
This fourth payment date, introduced by SASSA, is intended to alert certain grant recipients that their grants are under review and that they must present themselves at SASSA offices for biometric verification. However, SASSA has failed to properly inform beneficiaries of this change. Many are unaware that a later-than-usual payment date means their grant is at risk if they don’t comply.
Even when they arrive at SASSA offices, beneficiaries are not told which documents they need to bring, resulting in repeated, fruitless trips. One individual told us it was his seventh attempt to get verified, without success.
SASSA’s verification process now involves both manual and electronic checks, effectively doubling the work required per person. But with severe staff shortages (the Benoni office had only 21 staff serving over 1 300 applicants) it is impossible to assist everyone.
As a result, beneficiaries are forced to wait for hours or return on multiple days, often without ever being helped. Vulnerable groups such as the elderly, people in wheelchairs and young mothers, are being forced to suffer through this chaotic system, with no seating, no shelter, and no clear communication. It was 1 300 on the day of the oversight, but it might not necessarily always be that many.
The DA is deeply concerned that unless SASSA urgently fixes this mess, thousands of beneficiaries could lose access to the grants they depend on, simply because they were never properly told to verify their details or what to bring.
We are submitting urgent parliamentary questions to get answers on:
- How SASSA is informing affected beneficiaries;
How many have updated their details since receiving the fourth payment date; - And what steps SASSA has taken to communicate the system’s implications to the public.
We demand that SASSA:
- Provide clear lists of required documentation for verification;
- Properly implement queue management systems at all offices;
- Ensure full capacitation of staff to deal with the verification load;
The government’s mismanagement of the social grant system is once again hurting the very people it is meant to protect.
Regards
Bridget Masango MP
DA Spokesperson on Social Development