We visited SASSA offices. Here’s what we found
People waiting in long queues told us their frustrations
Some South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) beneficiaries say they arrived at the SASSA office in Athlone as early as 3am. Photo: Marecia Damons
- GroundUp visited SASSA offices in Athlone and Gugulethu on Wednesday, where hundreds of beneficiaries were queuing, mostly to be assisted with disability grant issues.
- In Athlone, more than 100 people were in line when GroundUp arrived just after 7am. Some said they had been there since 3am.
- At the Gugulethu SASSA office there were many complaints about being repeatedly turned away or told to return on later dates. Queues stretched outside the property.
GroundUp visited South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) offices in Athlone and Gugulethu on Wednesday, where hundreds of social grant beneficiaries and applicants were queuing. Most of them needed assistance with disability grant issues.
We saw frustrated people waiting in long queues from early morning. Some of them were turned away before being helped.
As grant payments started this week, not everyone will receive their money on time because of a new verification drive by SASSA. The agency recently announced that beneficiaries who use identification other than a green barcoded ID or smart ID card, or who receive income into undeclared bank accounts, may face delays. The verification checks aim to prevent fraud in the social security system.
In Athlone more than 100 people were in line when we arrived just after 7am. Some said they had been there since 3am.
Bonita De Kock was there on behalf of her 86-year-old mother-in-law. She left home in Bonteheuwel at 4am. “Yesterday, I went to an ABSA bank [ATM] in Bonteheuwel, and I put the new EasyPay [card] into the ATM, but it showed there was no money,” she said.
After another failed attempt to withdraw her mother-in-law’s pension, the ATM receipt stated that she needed to visit a SASSA branch. “She’s been getting her money every month.”
De Kock said she was also applying for a disability grant for her mother-in-law. “I could’ve gone to Langa [today], but that SASSA satellite branch is closed. My mother-in-law couldn’t come and stand in this line so early, so I decided to wait in her place,” she said.
Other people in the queue complained about the lack of satellite offices in the areas neighbouring the Athlone office, like Langa, Bonteheuwel, Heideveld, Hazendal, Manenberg and Hanover Park. There are currently no SASSA offices in these areas, so people from these neighbourhoods go to the Athlone branch.
Tami Ruda, 64, from Langa, had been queuing since 5am to apply for the older person’s grant. “I woke up just before 3am … and maybe I’ll be finished here at 2pm. They need to have offices in Langa instead of having everyone come here,” he said. “If they tell me I must come back again, that’s another R40 I must spend on transport.”
Hundreds of people waited in long lines outside the SASSA office in Gugulethu on Wednesday morning. Photo: Mary-Anne Gontsana
At the Gugulethu SASSA office, complaints of being repeatedly turned away and told to return on later dates left some beneficiaries frustrated. Long queues stretched to outside the property.
Silindile Maki, a young mom, visited the branch to sort out an error on her child’s disability grant application. She was talking to the security guard inside to plead her case. “I don’t understand how one can be so rude,” she said. “All I wanted to ask was whether I should stand in the same queue as others if I am only here to fix an error. I don’t understand why he must be so rude in his response.”
Maki said she arrived at 7am. “It is my first time here and I did not anticipate such a long queue.”
While speaking to Maki another beneficiary interjected to explain that staff “take a certain number of people at a time, and then others still in the queue are ultimately sent home”.
“This morning after they opened, about 100 people were let in. But as you can see, of that hundred, some are still outside and have not even entered the premises,” said the woman.
Looking through the fence, you can see rows of red plastic chairs where more people had been queuing to get inside the premises.
In the background, an automated loudspeaker goes off every few minutes, calling out a number or a person’s full name and directing them to a teller window inside.
SASSA’s Western Cape office did not respond to our questions by the time of publication.
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