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- Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu said the department should have acted earlier to avoid the fight to renew temporary disability grants.
- She called for more venues to be opened to deal with congestion after water cannons were used to reinforce social distancing among grant applicants at the Bellville office.
- She stood firm in the department‘stance that he could not afford another automatic extension.
Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu said the department should have planned better to avoid the frenzy for services seen outside the Bellville Sassa office, where police used water cannons against the sick and disabled to impose social distancing on Friday.
“It shouldn’t have taken a minister to come here,” he said after an emergency meeting with Sassa CEO Totsi Memela and other officials.
Zulu added that many factors had contributed to the “endless lines” at Sassa’s Bellville office, but it was ultimately the responsibility of her department.
SEE | Brings chaos outside Sassa’s Cape Town office
Issues included Sassa not being able to use the community halls as he did before they closed due to Covid-19, a shortage of physicians in the Western Cape for medical evaluations, and a surge in child grant applications as parents lose their jobs during the pandemic. .
He said that Parliament’s Social Development Portfolio Committee had also convened the department to explain itself.
“I think we should have been able to plan better,” Zulu said.
On Friday morning, people stood in the rain close to each other as the queue went around the block.
The police tried to distance themselves from each of them according to the Covid-19 health advisories and to keep their masks on.
Comply
At one point, police said they would not open if people did not comply with social distancing.
Sassa’s Elsie’s River office manager Munro Jephta arrived to help, as his office was quieter, and he used the police public address system to explain procedures to those in line.
Subsequently, he assisted those who were queuing, taking and reviewing documents, while police officers and Sassa officers collected Sassa ID packages and cards, which were delivered to officers in the building.
After a long wait, the police pronounced names from a set of forms brought in by Sassa officials, which contained dates for people’s medical examinations and dates of when they must return.
The reduction in loads also slowed things down for the already reduced number of staff working due to health and safety regulations.
Just before Zulu arrived around noon, several plastic chairs were found for people leaning on crutches in the rain. The plan was to serve disabled people first, so people in wheelchairs and crutches lined the sidewalk accordingly.
Police tape was wrapped around the overflowing wheeled containers near the entrance to create an empty space for people to pass through the front door.
When Zulu arrived, he walked to look at the end of the queue, as people yelled at him, “We’re hungry.”
Later, he got into the police water cannon vehicle and used his public address system to implore people to keep their distance from each other.
He returned to the building for a meeting, but after several social distancing warnings, the police released the sick and disabled with the water cannon.
Afterwards, they continued to help Sassa officials call the names of the people whose future appointment dates were ready and to monitor the situation.
Zulu defended the police by using water cannons to keep people at a safe distance from each other, saying a lack of social distancing was a problem.
Condemn
Western Cape Social Development MEC Sharna Fernández released a statement expressing her dismay at Friday’s events.
“I condemn in the strongest possible terms the use of water cannons by the South African Police Services against the most vulnerable in our society, who have queued today at Sassa’s offices.
“These citizens are desperately seeking Sassa’s help regarding the termination of all Sassa temporary disability grants, and it is not their fault that they failed in this way,” he said.
People were still waiting outside Sassa’s Bellville office on Friday afternoon.
News24 Jenni Evans, News24
Fernandez added that he was supposed to have a meeting with Zulu on Friday to see how the Western Cape government could help, but this was postponed until Monday.
The ANC in the province blamed the Western Cape government for not making the community halls available.
However, the city of Cape Town said it closed the corridors as part of its Covid-19 strategy, and those offered were either rejected by Sassa or asked the city to install infrastructure for its systems.
Applicants
Many of the applicants said that they used to go to the community halls for any Sassa business and that it was more convenient than going to Bellville.
Black Sash called for the temporary disability grant to be extended again, after it was extended during the shutdown.
Zulu said that would not be possible.
“If I could, and if the fiscus wasn’t under so much pressure … I’d definitely be saying ‘no, let’s just expand it.’
Memela said that many of the applicants were already in the system and that it should be a matter of reverifying their application through the medical appointments they were being given.
He added that Sassa would work on digitizing their systems so that people didn’t have to come to the office at all.
Those who need immediate assistance can get the Social Distress Relief Grant, if they qualify and have been previous recipients.
He also called for better cooperation with the Department of Health regarding medical evaluation and access to applicants’ medical records, many of which are already registered in databases.
