The IFP appeal to SASSA officials to urgently come up with ways to make the process of renewals and issuing of the new cards easier for the elderly, vulnerable and disabled people. The party is gravely concerned about reports from social grant beneficiaries across the province complaining about systems malfunctions and confusions which had resulted in many of them failing to cash their monthly pay outs after queuing for days waiting for this money.
“I visited several pay points around Stanger and there are many issues that people are complaining about regarding SASSA. Issues such as inadequate information about these new cards, money not being available in the new cards, insufficient grants that are short because SASSA have illegally debited doctor fees and airtime that people know nothing about and without their permission.
Some pensioners are complaining about not receiving their grants while SASSA employees insist it has been paid out. In some cases when people call to get information and clarification SASSA employees do not attend to their work telephones. Such incompetence cannot be tolerated. We demand that our senior citizens, the disabled and other grant receivers be taken seriously, attended to with respect and care and be given what is due to them urgently”, said IFP Spokesperson for Social Development, Mrs Ncamisile Nkwanyana, MPL.
“The IFP calls on the KZN MEC for Social Development, Weziwe Thusi to urgently intercede and ensure that SASSA and the South African Post Office (SAPO) deal with these glitches urgently. We cannot afford to have elderly citizens who rely heavily on grants struggle to receive their pay-outs. The communication should have been made to be more convenient so that they do not waste the little they have travelling in vain. SAPO and SASSA should do better in avoiding these unnecessary glitches. This level of incompetence demonstrates the lack of accountability and empathy towards the poor people” continued Mrs Nkwanyana.
“SASSA issue is a big concern to us because many families depend on this money. I can only imagine the pain of going back empty handed after standing in the cold the entire day. It is not enough for SASSA’s top management to just publicly acknowledge that they are aware of the issues and confusions in the province without proper plans to urgently resolve them”, concluded Mrs Nkwanyana
Issued by:
IFP KZN Provincial Spokesperson for Social Development
Mrs Ncamisile Nkwanyana, MPL
078 302 3991
