The chaos that saw hundreds of Cape Town’s elderly wait for three days to get their pensions was caused by “technical challenges”.
|||The chaos that saw hundreds of the city’s elderly wait for three days last week to get their pensions was caused by “technical challenges” and not the high influx of people at pay points, says SA Social Security Agency (Sassa).
Shivani Wahab, spokeswoman for Sassa in the Western Cape, denied that the chaos was attributable to ineffective communications by Sassa to grant beneficiaries.
“Sassa used print media, radio slots with community radio, our stakeholder network as well as our network contact points to conduct beneficiary education on re-registration,” said Wahab.
Virginia Peterson, pictured, Sassa’s chief executive officer, admitted that beneficiaries had been confused about the new system.
This had resulted in many beneficiaries arriving at pay points on days they were not scheduled to do so.
Peterson assured grant beneficiaries that the new system, which was designed to root out fraud and abuse, would be beneficial to grant recipients in the long run. Peterson said the situation was under control.
She was speaking at a pay point in Khayelitsha on Thursday where she was accompanying Bathabile Dlamini, the Minister of Social Development, on visits of city pay points.
Dlamini said 100 extra workstations had been brought in to help with processing the backlog of beneficiaries in the Western Cape since the beginning of last week.
daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za
Cape Argus