70 000 still await Sassa January grants

WHILE more than 70 000 beneficiaries are still waiting to receive their January social grants from the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa), the agency has blamed this failure on yet another glitch – the alleged misinterpretation or failure to verify beneficiary banking details.

In September last year, another glitch left hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries without payment for weeks, and the fear for many of the unpaid child support grant recipients are that they would only receive their funds in February, if at all.

For many mothers, the child support grant is their only income and Sassa’s payment failure places additional strain on them at the start of the school year when they have to purchase school uniforms, shoes and other supplies – never mind ensuring that their children do not become part of South Africa’s horrendous malnutrition statistics.

The DA has been inundated with the concerns of beneficiaries that they might have to reapply and be without their funds for months. Their fears are further flamed and preyed upon by unfounded remarks that social grants will “likely disappear” should the ANC be voted out later this year.

The DA has a comprehensive social development policy that not only recommends raising the child support grant to the food poverty line, extending the child grant to include learners who are still attending school over the age of 18 until they complete their National Senior Certificate, and extending the child grant to cover pregnant mothers to support child nutrition goals. Their policy also focuses on economic growth and job creation to ensure that less people would require such assistance.

BRIDGET MASANGO | DA Shadow Minister of Social Development