The Democratic Alliance (DA) conducted an oversight inspection at the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) office in Benoni following reports that grant beneficiaries visiting these offices have for the past few weeks been turned away without receiving their benefits.
DA Team One Gauteng spokesperson on social cohesion and forgotten communities Bridget Masango, Michele Clarke, DA Gauteng spokesperson for community safety, and Ward 29 councillor Haseena Ismail engaged with social grant beneficiaries about their concerns on January 15.
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Masango said she received messages from several beneficiaries on January 14 that they were turned away because some of the Sassa employees were still on leave.
“It is not fair to turn away residents just because you didn’t plan properly for people to work the whole time so they can assist the poor and vulnerable,” said Masango.
“Citizens who come to Sassa are labelled by the constitution as poor and vulnerable, so one must have a special way of dealing with them.”
Masango said we cannot have people standing here from 6am with no chairs and at the same time they are not being assisted.
“The report we got from management is that everything is fine; the staff is doing the best they can and that every office in Ekurhuleni is like this.
“It is unacceptable that people oppressed by poverty, people with disabilities and the vulnerable have to wait in temperatures of 39 degrees, with sometimes, only two or three staff members assisting more than 230 beneficiaries a day.
“In terms of the Constitution, government has a responsibility to take care of the poor and vulnerable.”
Masango added the DA is the only party that can bring change which will build a one South Africa for all and ensure our forgotten communities are taken care of.
Clarke said with the report they receive from management, the DA will table a motion to council to ensure they allow the Sassa offices in Benoni puts up benches and shade for vulnerable people who wait in queues all day.
Gauteng Sassa spokesperson Nandi Mosia said as Sassa they try their best to offer the best service to the residents.
“Over the past few months, we’ve seen an increase in the number of people applying for social grants. This puts pressure on the resources we have currently, but we try and assist as many people as possible,” said Mosia.
“On January 15, 191 people were assisted. In situations where there’s a shortage of staff we alert the residents that we can only assist a certain number of people per day and ask them to come back the next day.”
Mosia said in some cases you find some residents don’t want to go to other Sassa offices as they say Benoni offers better assistance than the other offices.
“If the community is not satisfied with the service they get they can report it so we can improve where we are failing them.”
Community member Sipho Mthombeni said why can’t the Benoni Sassa office move to bigger premises where everyone will be able to sit while waiting, it’s not fair to the elders to stand for hours.
“They should also employ more people; there are so many unemployed young people who need work,” said Mthombeni.
Another resident, Robert Motha, said the service he received wasn’t that bad even though he was back there for the second time after being turned away on January 14.
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