Long bank and shop queues during the first week of every month are getting on the nerves of government grant beneficiaries and non-recipients alike.
Long bank and shop queues during the first week of every month are getting on the nerves of government grant beneficiaries and non-recipients alike.
Beneficiaries blame this inconvenience on the new card system introduced by the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) this year.
Disgruntled citizens in Grahamstown also complain that the local Sassa office doesn’t deal with their problems, if they reach the front of the line to complain at all.
An unemployed 26-year-old mother who asked not to named said her child support grant has been suspended for two months now, and she doesn’t know why.
She went to the Sassa office Tuesday 3 September to hear an explanation, but after waiting in the long queue for some time she was told to go to Shoprite. A Sassa employee said she’d be able to get her money there, but this was not the case.
“I am tired of Sassa, their services are poor and there are no employees to help people,” said the woman.
Another Sassa beneficiary, who also doesn’t want to be identified because he fears his grant might be taken from him, said he’d had to wait in line two days in a row to get his grant money.
A resident who isn’t a grant beneficiary, but is affected by the grant system, Olwethu Benya, said he wished the government would move the date to later in the month so that he didn’t have to endure such long bank queues.
According to Sassa’s Communications and Marketing manager, Luzuko Qina, grants are available to beneficiaries any time after the first of every month.
Their current system enables Sassa to know the spending trends and patterns of the social grant recipients, he said.
Qina says on average they receive extremely few complaints from their 2.6 million beneficiaries every month, and 100% of these complaints are attended to.
He urged all people with complaints of poor services at Sassa offices to call 0800 601 011.
"We encourage beneficiaries not to leave offices without requesting to meet with the local office head, and to resolve any dispute or unhappiness about service rendered."
