Incidents of harassment and threats of violence against social workers have been reported to the Department of Social Development.
Maintaining access to a South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) grant is being used as a motive for negligent parents to fight the potential removal of their children.
Social workers get trapped attempting to maintain balance in these heated domestic conflicts, but face intimidation and threats of violence to tip the scales in the favour of desperate parents.
The Gauteng Department of Social Development confirmed multiple cases of intimidation have been reported, while one case highlights the extremes to which vulnerable children can be subjected.
Two-year-old abandoned in tavern
A Johannesburg woman caring for a neglected child relayed the rollercoaster of emotions suffered by her and the small boy she was caring for.
Not wanting to be named as the boy’s biological parents have threatened her with violence, the female caregiver first came into contact with the two-year-old in February 2024 when he was found unsupervised at a tavern near Orange Grove.
The child was again abandoned at a crèche in the same suburb in May 2024 and was the found abandoned at Edenvale hospital in June 2023 after being admitted for malnutrition.
After the tavern incident, the boy’s mother signed an affidavit allowing the child to be placed in the temporary care of the woman, with the hospital incident resulting in another affidavit confirming a more permanent agreement.
A Child Welfare report from June 2024 confirmed the arrangement between the caregiver and the mother, but in September this year, Child Welfare sent the boy back to his parents.
Barred from seeing the boy, who will celebrate his fourth birthday later in December, the woman was told by community members that he had again been left unattended for several hours at a tavern just weeks ago.
Death threats
The caregiver has fought to keep the child for much of 2025, despite being subject to intimidation and accusations of foul play.
Conflict first began shortly after the child was removed, when the father asked the woman to sign a letter stating that the child stayed with him in order for him to claim a Sassa grant.
“After the child grant was suspended, the father of the minor child falsely accused me of selling or unlawfully keeping [him],” the caregiver states in an affidavit seen by The Citizen.
In October 2024, the father discovered that his Sassa card had been blocked, with the mother’s earlier affidavits preventing him from obtaining an affidavit that confirmed the child stayed with him.
He went to the women demanding he be given the child back, but was told Child Welfare and the mother had given her permission to care for the boy.
“He spent the entire afternoon calling both the social worker and myself, repeatedly stating that he wanted his child back,” states the woman’s affidavit
The man relented, but while doing community charity work in Orange Grove in December 2024, the caregiver encountered the father again, who rallied a mob to intimidate her.
The father threatened to kill the caregiver and the child, with the incident confirmed to have been reported to police.
Friends close to the woman contacted The Citizen to explain the boy was thriving, and are begging authorities to remove him from his allegedly negligent parents.
‘Standard practise’
Clinical Director at the Teddy Bear Clinic Shaheda Omar relayed that her experience had showed this was a “general pattern” shown by parents whose children had been removed.
Additionally, Omar told The Citizen that parents become “aggressive and manipulative’ when Sassa grants are threatened.
It is not unusual, it is standard practise. Often, they hold on as it is their security blanket and it is their means of survival, so they are going to fight tooth and nail for that,” she said.
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Gauteng DSD spokesperson Motsamai Motlhaolwa confirmed social workers face regular abuse, stressing they were working under difficult circumstances.
“Four social workers in Soweto have been seriously threatened by clients in different cases recently,” Motlhaolwa told The Citizen this week.
“Despite facing harassment and threats, these dedicated professionals remain committed to protecting the vulnerable and advocating for justice.
He said social workers were advised to lay harassment cases with police, adding that a recent court case had been passed on to a family advocate to protect the social workers.
“We salute the social workers who have been threatened and intimidated, yet remain steadfast in their duty,” said Motlhaolwa.
Sassa reviews solely financial
Sassa explained that a child support grant needed to be received by the primary caregiver where the child resides, not by someone not staying with the child.
“If a parent is not staying with the child, they are not eligible to receive the grant on behalf of the child.
“When a beneficiary is approved for a grant, Sassa explains to them that if their personal circumstances change, they must inform Sassa immediately,” Sassa spokesperson Andile Tshona told The Citizen.
He explained that grant reviews were done periodically when Sassa had reason to believe beneficiaries’ situations had changed, but that it was solely a financial assessment.
“Sassa reviews social grants on a regular basis, cross-checking the data from Home Affairs, banks, South Africa Revenue Service and Credit Bureaus.
“The review of social grants is to check if the beneficiaries’ financial circumstances have changed and if they are still eligible to receive the grant.
“Should the beneficiary fail to present themselves for the review, the grant will get lapsed after 90 days or if they be found to be above the threshold of means test, their grant is lapsed,” said Tshona.
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