Through oversight at post offices disbursing the Covid-19 emergency grant of R350, the DA in the Western Cape has identified that grant recipients are often turned away due to cash shortages. In other cases, recipients are robbed whilst standing in excessively long lines.
MPP Gillion Bosman says: “I’ve witnessed that individuals are leaving post offices without obtaining the R350 emergency grant facilitated by the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA). In many cases, these are deserving beneficiaries who meet the stated criteria and ought to receive these desperately needed funds as we face the second pandemic of unemployment and poverty.
But in response to this, the national Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu, says that it is up to the Department of Communications to ensure the Post Office has the necessary cash flow.
This is similar to her response on the safety of grant applicants, where we’ve seen individuals mugged of their cellphones or the very little cash they have whilst waiting to receive payments. Minister Zulu points to her other cabinet colleague, Minister Cele, for SAPS to deal with this.”
The buck has to stop somewhere. It cannot be that ministers Zulu for Social Development, Cele for Police, and Ndabeni for Communications all sit around the same cabinet table and National Coronavirus Command Council yet do not find the time or the political will to resolve the issues at hand.
MPP Bosman adds: “Whilst our provincial Social Development is stretching its resources to fund PPE, assist old age care facilities, and boost support to shelters for survivors of abuse, Minister Zulu is lately too preoccupied with her ANC international relations role. She is vocal in support of the ruling party in Zimbabwe, which she calls her ‘sister party’ of the ANC.
Meanwhile, grant recipients are robbed and left penniless, and applicants for disability grants are turned away because the minister buckles to the pressure of unions under the smokescreen that she doesn’t want to expose doctors to Covid-19. We’re also now seeing SASSA officials accused of robbing the agency through fake disability grant claims.
Since SASSA has failed to arrive three times to different invitations of the provincial standing committee, I am in the process of obtaining legal opinion for the way forward.
Additionally, I am engaging with the Speaker of the Provincial Parliament to assist in calling upon national government to better coordinate its social relief efforts. I strongly urge the national departments of Social Development, Communications, and Police to work together to ensure grant applicants receive monies safely and on time.”
The DA in the Western Cape will continue its fight for support of our most vulnerable residents, as the province does everything it can to beat both Covid-19 and the poverty pandemics.
