Sassa move to boost disaster responses
Co-operation with City will be given a shot in the arm after fire
SOCIAL security agency Sassa will continue to meet with the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape government in order to provide timeous relief to residents affected by disasters.
The engagements follow a mud-slinging match where Sassa was accused of failing in its mandate to provide relief, particularly in the wake of the Riemvasmaak fire which destroyed the homes and belongings of four families living in the informal settlement close to Strandfontein.
The City, via its Disaster Risk Management directorate, and the provincial government, via the Western Cape Social Development Department, met with Sassa on Friday.
Providing humanitarian relief was previously handled by the City’s disaster risk management centre before Sassa announced it would be taking over that responsibility earlier this year. Under the Social Assistance Act, Sassa is legally mandated to provide social relief in times of disaster. Sassa is a national entity run by the Department of Social Development and has a budget to cater for disaster relief.
“The change came about after Sassa reassessed its policies and procedures in funding service providers (NGOs) who provide social relief to disaster victims.
“There were concerns that the payments to service providers could possibly be classified as irregular expenditure in terms of the Public Finance Management Act and the Sassa supply chain management policies,” mayoral committee member of safety and security JP Smith said.
There were teething problems since the changeover, Smith said, necessitating the meeting. “Sassa and the Western Cape Department of Social Development are to co-operate and seek synergy in the arrangements for disaster relief, recognising the respective responsibility of each organisation,” Smith said.
The meeting ended on a positive note. “It was agreed to explore the use of modern technology to aid the timeous distribution of social and disaster relief to affected residents, particularly with winter coming.”
Sassa had said the reason for its slow response to the Riemvasmaak disaster was that it had not been informed about it.
In a recent interview, the acting general manager of grants at Sassa, Busisiwe Letompa, said: “There is a process in place when an incident is reported to Sassa. In this particular incident of Riemvasmaak, this was never reported to Sassa.
“We have a process in place that when the City provides us with the incident, we go to the area and we do the assessment and then we activate a humanitarian assessment. This was never reported to us.”
Disaster Risk Management manager Greg Pillay admitted there was a breakdown in communication, resulting in the slow response to Riemvasmaak.
“It’s in the best interests between Sassa and the City that we have co-operation. We have a number of instances where people have come forward and said that Sassa has not provided them with relief.”
Sassa slammed the City for providing inaccurate details about the number of people who may need help.
“We will be meeting regularly for updates with the City and social development department to resolve any further issues,” spokesperson Shivani Wahab said.