Sassa beneficiaries frustrated over delayed payments [VIDEO]

Tensions escalated outside the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) office in downtown Johannesburg on Thursday, due to delayed grant payments.

Last month, Sassa announced a slight delay in the May payment schedule due to a verification campaign to tighten the social grant system.

Beneficiaries turned away from Sassa office

Beneficiaries gathered outside the Sassa office, expressing their dissatisfaction with the long waiting times and lack of assistance.

Many reported being turned away and told to return on another date, without clear explanations.

One beneficiary said she has been visiting the office since last year and has been turned back every time.

“I got here this morning; they didn’t want me to get inside. The people that I arrived with got in, but I was told to remain outside.”

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She further claimed that her child hasn’t received any grant, although she was told she was on the system.

Lesego Tau (name changed to protect identity) told The Citizen that she had been sent away for the last three weeks while trying to register her daughter for the child support grant.

“I arrived before 10am, but they turned me back saying it is full. Though the people that were exiting the building said it was not full,” she added.

The Sassa spokesperson had not responded to The Citizen at the time of publishing.

WATCH: A frustrated beneficiary outside the Sassa office

Delay in payments

Speaking to The Citizen on 5 May, Sassa spokesperson Paseka Letsatsi said that the delay in payments would not affect all grant beneficiaries.

“The verification process is an ongoing process. For now, we want to appeal to our beneficiaries not to panic,” he said.

Letsatsi assured that social grant payments would continue as scheduled with a slight delay for targeted beneficiaries.

“The targeted beneficiaries are those who use alternative forms of identification other than the standard 13-digit South African identity number to receive their social grants,” he explained.

Beneficiaries are urged to visit Sassa offices in person to have their ID numbers reviewed and properly recorded.

“Once these clients have presented themselves at various Sassa offices, a review will be done and then their 13-digit ID numbers will be captured in the system,” Sassa stated.

The agency warned that beneficiaries who fail to respond to the verification call may face grant suspension. Prolonged non-compliance could result in the complete lapsing of their grants.

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