Social grants deadline: Black Sash to hold silent protest

Colleen Ryan from Black Sash, Thandeka Kathi from Social Justice Coalition and Lynette Maart from Black Sash. Photo by Pasqua Heard.

The Black Sash has urged the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) to fix the flaws in the social grants system as a new contractor is appointed to replace Cash Paymaster Services.

SASSA has until tomorrow 15 October to comply with a Constitutional Court order to appoint a new contractor. The Court found that the previous tender process was flawed.

The payment system managed by Cash Paymaster Services, which is not bidding for another contract, has been riddled with problems, with beneficiaries reporting unlawful and fraudulent deductions from their grants.

The Black Sash, which has been running a “Hands off our grants” campaign, will hold silent protests tomorrow in Cape Town and Soweto and will hand over key demands to the Department of Social Development and SASSA. Demands include:

SASSA must take full responsibility for the administration and payments of grants as soon as possible;
SASSA and the department must stop CPS and its subsidiaries from facilitating unlawful deductions and exploiting confidential data about social grant beneficiaries;
SASSA must put in place its own system to make sure beneficiaries can get their money back when unlawful deductions have been made from their accounts;
The social grants inspectorate must be empowered to protect the interests of grant beneficiaries and to educate the public about its functions.

The silent protest in Cape Town will take place outside St. George’s Cathedral from 12h00-13h00. Other groups will gather outside parliament, the SASSA offices in Golden Acre, and Cape Town station from 10.30-11.30.

Members from the Social Justice Coalition Khayelitsha branch and the Right2Know campaign are expected to attend.

On Friday, 16 October, the Black Sash will hold a silent protest at the SASSA national office in Pretoria.