Pensioner still waiting for money
A pensioner in Observatory has still not received her monthly pension payout, as the South African Social Services Agency (SASSA) continues to send her from pillar to post.
Mrs Maria Dos Santos has expressed her frustration at being sent back and forth in her quest to receive her pension money due to her for the month of August.
She says her ordeal started when a pension administrating company named Sekulula, was replaced with a new company called Net 1.
“Sekulula ran smoothly and we hardly experienced any problems,” said Mrs Dos Santos. Then SASSA, with the new company Net 1, came up with a system where pensioners could collect their pay at any Checkers or Pick n Pay stores. The new system came with a new card, which Mrs Dos Santos received three months ago.
The new card allowed pensioners to withdraw money at the cash register and they could also pay for groceries. On August 4, Ms Dos Santos went to a Pick n Pay store at the Park Meadows Shopping Centre.
“I was shocked to learn there are no funds in my account,” said Mrs Dos Santos.
The lady behind the till tried to process her card three times and it still had no funds available. “Nobody had told us it was valid for only three months. The expiry date on the card said 2017,” said Mrs Dos Santos.
The cashier told her to re-register at the Bertha Solomon Centre. When she went there on August 7, she was informed that her identity number does not exist.
“I was told it may be due to my old identity document being lost,” said Mrs Dos Santos. “How can they claim it does not exist, when they used the same identity number to make the new card with a micro chip, which was done this year,” asked Mrs Dos Santos.
After being sent from pillar to post, she was told a new card would be ready for transactions after 48 hours.
“They told me I should go home and check in 48 hours, but I’m still waiting,” said Mrs Dos Santos. She says the pension money is her only source of income and she has already spent money on phone calls and travelling. “I’m very frustrated by this matter, it is unacceptable,” concluded Mrs Dos Santos.
Mr L A Majoro, from SASSA, said they were dealing with the matter urgently. “We have escalated the matter. Mrs Dos Santos lost her identity document and it appears our system has her old identity number. Our system is still new and we have experienced similar challenges with other pensioners,” said Mr Majoro. He asked for patience from Mrs Dos Santos, as other similar matters have been solved in the past.
