by Mark RH Kleinschmidt
The absolute chaos which prevailed this past week during the payout to grant recipients at the Sassa offices in the Western Cape was a complete disgrace, with the pathetic service to the the most vulnerable South Africans.
Many senior Sassa pension recipients, often queueing for hours from very early in the morning until late in the afternoon, are treated with little dignity. They endure the gruelling wait with much patience and perseverance, withstanding the elements for a measly amount of money.
Thanks to the incompetent and disastrous bureaucracy in the Sassa system, it became known that thousands of disability grant recipients are at risk of losing their life saving grants due to the ANC-led government’s failure to extend the deadline for disability grant re-assessments during the lockdown period.
A completely new process that requires a form to be collected, a visit to a doctor, and then back to the Sassa office for adjudication, is the tedious process which Sassa recipients have to endure.
In the words of Charlie Gonzalez, US Democratic politician, "After a lifetime of working, raising families, and contributing to the success of this nation in countless other ways, senior citizens deserve to retire with dignity."
* Ward 60 Councillor Mark RH Kleinschmidt, Lansdowne.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
Cape Argus
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