Long queues as people change grant payments

THE SOUTH African Social Security Agency (Sassa) in the Northern Cape is experiencing long lines at its local offices due to an influx of beneficiaries requesting to change their grant payment options.

According to the Sassa provincial spokesperson, Inno Khunou, hundreds of beneficiaries queued at the Sassa offices earlier this week in order to apply to have their Sassa grants deposited into private bank accounts.

Khonou said some beneficiaries were doing so in order to secure bank loans.

“We are experiencing an unprecedented influx of beneficiaries to our local offices requesting to change their grant payment option to banks. However, it has become evident that some beneficiaries are exploiting this process in order to secure loans against their social grants,” said Khunou.

She said a booking system had been implemented at all offices in the region to deal with the influx.

“We realised that we could not assist the high number of people all at once. To prevent unnecessary long lines we have given each beneficiary a booking date when they can return to change their payment options.

“Some of our beneficiaries are elderly and by giving them appointments it will prevent them from having to wait in line for several hours,” she said.