Let’s have clear guidelines on grants

JUST in this fiscal year, it is estimated there will be some 17 million grant beneficiaries in our country, which include pensions, disability payments and child support grants, giving readers some perspective of the magnitude of the social welfare problems facing financially-stricken citizens.

If these people do not receive support, most would be left destitute and unable to buy food, pay rentals and enjoy basic amenities like electricity and running water, which many South Africans today take for granted.

Against that background, we can only begin to imagine the heartbreak and distress experienced by many elderly citizens who face financial hardship after their disability grants were stopped by the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) recently.

It was an issue highlighted by this newspaper last week when three mothers from Phoenix talked about how they had been left destitute after their applications were rejected.

They claim that despite being treated for severe chronic conditions such as heart disease, epilepsy and high blood pressure, they were shocked their applications were turned down without them being fairly assessed by Sassa’s doctors.

These are mainly people from poor families who have been collecting grants for several years. The grants helped them buy food and other essentials and contribute to their transport costs.

Desperate for help, they have sought the intervention of the DA.

As with most issues, there is always more than one side to a story.

While sympathetic to the plight of the grantees and their understandable concerns, Sassa has taken the effort to point out there is often the misconception among people about what conditions make one eligible for a disability grant.

As Sassa’s communications manager in KZN has said, disability grants are given to people who cannot work because of “physical bodily challenges”.

What does come as a relief though is that a pragmatic, rather than a confrontational approach, is being adopted by both sides.

Both Sassa and the DA have met and held fruitful discussions about the issue.

What has come out of those discussions is an agreement that all rejected applications would be re-assessed and an investigation launched into why so many applications for grants had been turned down.

There will also be a meeting with the Sassa-appointed doctors to discuss the management of the assessment of applicants.

We trust that a fair and just resolution will emerge from these talks and that clear guidelines will be set in place about eligibility for grants.

The people affected are desperate for answers. They deserve a fair hearing and a sympathetic ear from officials.