Photo: Bernard Joseph / Twitter
Photo: Bernard Joseph / Twitter
It’s quite a statement for, well, anyone at SASSA to make – let alone the CEO. Totsie Memela has potentially put his foot in his mouth on Friday, after suggesting that the 210 000 people who are reliant on temporary disability grants were ‘being unfair’ to ask for their automatic reinstatement.
‘Unfair to ask for a disability grant extension’ – SASSA CEO
Memela has certainly not read the room. After confirming to CapeTalk that there could be no ‘blanket extension’ of the popular grant, he suggested that recipients should be grateful for the fact that the payments were extended beyond their deadlines three times in 2020. The CEO praised Lindiwe Zulu for this move, but it’s unlikely to appease public anger.
“We can’t generally extend [temporary disability grants] because the Social Security Act determines how we treat each and every particular grant. It’s actually unfair for them to say we cannot lapse them because the grants were extended three times last year – and it was as a result of the directives that the minister put in place.”
“With the minister extending the temporary disability grant, the Westen Cape has got the biggest numbers in the country and we need to explore why more people are affected in this province. Sassa in the Western Cape only has 16 offices. We have always worked in what we call service centres in the past. Now we can’t, because of COVID-19.”
Totsie Memela
Long queues could spread COVID-19 further
Long queues continue to build outside of SASSA offices on Friday, as recipients scramble to file the correct paperwork to get their disability grants back online. The mad rush has caused huge crowds to form, potentially creating multiple COVID-19 super-spreader events in the process. Memela’s words seem to have fallen on deaf ears:
#SASSA the local office in EldoradoPark is not helping any applicant they waiting for a supervisor the queues no social distancing i told my uncle we must leave i will bring him another day
— Tauman (@spora1) January 15, 2021
Social grant beneficiaries, some who have been sleeping outside at the Bellville SASSA office, are angered at the non-payment of grants. In December last year, SASSA suspended thousands of temporary disability grants and care dependency grants across the country. pic.twitter.com/P3ljAZBsMM
— Voice of the Cape (@VOCfm) January 15, 2021
People are freaking out that they will lose their place in the queue as SAPS and Metro Police attempt to form a line at Belville #Sassa @TeamNews24 pic.twitter.com/iDb0RKcuH4
— Jenni Evans (@itchybyte) January 15, 2021
