Sassa stops R5m student food aid

List of those in need includes a councillor who pays his own way

R5-MILLION worth of food aid for 3 000 needy University of Fort Hare students has been stopped by the South Africa Social Security Agency (Sassa).

This is after they discovered the list of intended recipients was faulty and even included a DA councillor.

The agency said when they made the discovery, they put the programme on hold.

Khayalethu Baliso, DA PR councillor in Raymond Mhlaba municipality, appears on the list of students from both UFH’s Alice and East London campuses who were set to benefit from the programme.

Speaking to the Dispatch yesterd Baliso, who is doing his masters in social sciences at the Alice campus, claimed he had no idea how his name ended up on the list.

“I never submitted my name, I am not needy and I pay my own fees.”

Earlier this week Democratic Alliance Student Organisation (Daso) leader, Hlomela Bucwa issued a statement demanding meal allowances worth R5-million from Sassa and the department of social development which they claim the agency had committed to give to needy students for a period of two months.

According to Bucwa’s statement, the needy students were required to submit documents to the Student Representative Council (SRC) student services officer, at their respective campuses.

Responding to questions by the Dispatch, Bucwa said they did not know about the councillor being on the list until the Dispatch’s inquiry.

“However, this does not remove the fact that the councillor was still a student in the institution and had undergone the Sassa screening.

“As such this cannot be used as an excuse as to why students were not assisted or communicated with.

“If the department had an issue with individuals on the list that should have been communicated with the students and institution accordingly.

“Secondly, in the event that they had identified a particular individual they should have then removed them and continued to fund the rest of the students,” said Bucwa.

Sassa’s provincial senior communication and marketing, Sandy Godlwana, said in April this year that the university had written to the agency requesting assistance in the form of social relief of distress (SRD) for unfunded students.

Godlwana said the request from the university was for food parcels, not food vouchers, and no amount had been discussed.

The SRD is a temporary provision of assistance intended for persons in such dire need that they are unable to provide their own basic needs.

Legislation allows Sassa to provide financial and non-financial assistance to persons with insufficient means who experience undue hardship in the form of food parcels, uniforms, blankets and dignity packs.

Food parcels are issued on a monthly basis for a maximum period of three months. An extension of a further three months may be granted in exceptional cases.

Godlwana said following the request from the university, Sassa requested a list of students in need.

“Social workers conducted assessments to give us detailed information regarding household profiling,” said Godlwana.

During the application process and after receiving the list from the university, Godlwana said they found that some of the students on the list were employed or funded by NSFAS.

“For this reason Sassa stopped the process and requested the university to provide an updated list of students who are unemployed, needy and who do not receive loans from NSFAS, but they have not responded.”

Spokesman for the department of social development Mzukisi Solani said their only participation was to assess the students to see whether they needed food parcels.

“We do not have the capacity to feed the needy, that is Sassa’s mandate,” said Solani.

The Dispatch has seen a copy of the list of the needy students and found Baliso’s name on it.

UFH spokesman Khotso Moabi said the list had been sourced from the financial aid office and comprised students who had undergone a means test.

“We were not aware of any municipal councillor or NSFAS-funded student at the time.

“As things stand, we are not continuing with that programme as NSFAS has attended to our students’ applications but if the need arises, we can look at identifying other students that may need help,” said Moabi.

DA provincial leader Nqaba Bhanga blamed the university for the bungle, saying the institution had failed to provide the correct information. “The university has proved that it cannot even verify basic information like this. This exposes their poor administration,” said Bhanga, adding it was incorrect to say Sassa had stopped the programme because of the councillor whose name was on the list. —