Photo: Supplied
Photo: Supplied
A large number of R350 grant recipients have been left to ‘fend for themselves’, according to the Shadow Social Development Minister – after a bout of technical errors prevented some applicants from receiving their payments.
Why are some R350 grant recipients not being paid?
The DA stated that they have been ‘flooded with complaints’ from desperate R350 grant beneficiaries, who are puzzled as to why their financial lifeline has not yet been processed. The problems are coming thick and fast for SASSA:
- Scores of beneficiaries say they have not been paid for the last three months.
- According to some sources, SASSA’s cashless payment methods – relied upon by many clients – ‘are not active’.
- It is also claimed that SASSA ‘cannot verify’ thousands of bank details, with the DA branding this ‘unacceptable’.
SASSA slammed by shadow minister
Bridget Masango, the cross-bench opposite of Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, deals with all matters related to SASSA and Social Development in her shadow portfolio. She has been left horrified by these unfolding circumstances, and the senior politician was struggling to hide her dismay on Thursday.
In a recently released statement, Masango questioned why SASSA was still struggling to get the basics right, more than 18 months after the R350 grant was first introduced. The DA representative believes that the ANC government was ill-prepared to reintroduce the popular payments, but went ahead with it anyway for ‘electioneering purposes’:
“Both the Social Development Department and SASSA must account for the newest bout of non-payments for the R350 grant. SASSA has not paid multitudes of recipients since August, even though they have already been approved. We have been inundated with messages from desperate South Africans who rely upon the grant to survive.”
“How can SASSA still be struggling to get the basics right? Why have the many glitches in their system not been fixed? And this at the expense of vulnerable people… this iteration of the R350 grant was nothing more than a cruel electioneering tool meant to beholden desperate people to the ANC government.” | Bridget Masango
