Khayelitsha grant recipients were full of praise for the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) during its community outreach programme there last Friday, but elsewhere it drew rebuke as thousands of pensioners were fed through a bureaucratic wringer to swap their social security cards.
Sassa’s gold cards were set to expire at the end of this month, and if beneficiaries did not make the switch to the Postbank black card, they would not be able to receive their grants.
On Friday February 14, the day of the outreach at the Desmond Tutu Hall in Makhaza, Sassa said the deadline was extended to Thursday March 20.
However, many pensioners fear that even with the extension it might not be enough time to make the change.
The process has been criticised for having too few service points with pensioners having to travel far – in many cases borrowing money for public transport – to reach one and then being turned away because of system errors or too few staff.
In a joint statement on Friday February 14, Communication and Digital Technologies Minister Solly Malatsi and Social Development Minister Nokuzola Tolashe said the extension was in response to the “deep concerns and frustrations of our social grant beneficiaries”.
Beneficiaries unable to do the card switch by deadline would still get paid, but they would have to visit their nearest post office to get their money, they said.
But, at the Desmond Tutu Hall, Sassa came in for praise for helping to bring essential government services closer to Khayelitsha residents with other government departments, including Home Affairs and Health, and banks helping to provide on-site assistance.
Luyanda Adams, from the Khayelitsha Development Forum, said: “This initiative helped many of our people, especially the seniors. There were hundreds of people from as early as yesterday. The day was meant for people of Makhaza only but people heard about it from friends and family members, they came from as far as Kraaifontein. But they were not turned away. Everybody was helped in accordance with their needs. We are truly grateful to Sassa for this programme. It has helped a lot of our people, especially the poor who could not afford to go to these departments.”
Nomakholwa Sibidla, 75, said she had been thrilled to be able to change her Sassa grant card. “I was not going to be able to go as far as the offices of Sassa are. I had to walk for at least 10 minutes to get this help. I am grateful.”
Luvo Rhudulu, 60, praised the outreach campaign for helping her to replace her lost ID, saying, “We normally criticise the government for not producing and delivering. But it is about time that we give them flowers today. Today I am a South African again.”
