Following our oversight visit to the SASSA offices in Bellville today, it is clear that the national agency, mandated to care for the most vulnerable of residents, is not upholding its commitments. It was revealed that SASSA currently has a staggering 17 521 bookings and medical assessments that need to take place in the Cape Metro alone.
Of this number, only 848 medical assessments have been conducted. Despite this, SASSA is confident that they will clear the backlog towards the end of March and that this is just an ‘extraordinary’ time. We hope that this is indeed the case, since SASSA is only operating at 50% of its usual staffing power due to unduly prolonged Level 3 lockdown regulations.
Upon arrival at the venue, we were notified that those who will be 60 years or older this year do not need to come into the office to renew their temporary disability grant as this would be automatically renewed. This information should have been disseminated earlier to ease up congestion in lines and support social distancing measures.
Apart from poor communication to stakeholders, the undertaking by SASSA to open at 06:00 and close at 18:00 has not been implemented. Management on site met with us only after 08:00 and we were notified that the earliest staffer arrives at 6.30am to set up systems.
The congestion in SASSA lines is further worsened by SASSA claiming to have organised so-called express lines, but National Development Agency (NDA) volunteers seems to be ineffective when dealing with it.
Nevertheless, we remain committed to interrogate the next reports delivered by SASSA’s Regional Manager to the Standing Committee on Social Development in the province. It was agreed at a special meeting of the committee last week that such reports on eradicating the backlog will be received on a fortnightly basis.
