Resident fed up with no service at Sassa
Cheryl noticed the woman that was helping her at Sassa also didn’t give her an affidavit of assets and liabilities.
Benoni resident Cheryl Zackey is frustrated with the time she has had to spend at the Benoni Sassa office trying to claim her pension.
Her daughter, who would like to remain anonymous, spoke to the City Times on her behalf.
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“The systems at the Benoni Sassa office have been down for over two weeks,” she said.
“There are no landlines for the public to call, they won’t take manual applications but their online system is also not working, so we had to make our way to the Sassa office to apply directly for her pension.
“It’s absolutely shocking, I don’t even know how people afford the back and forth transportation. It is a terrible state of affairs.”
Cheryl’s husband is bedbound with cancer, which means she is in danger of being exposed to Covid-19 when visiting the Sassa office. This is a big worry for their daughter.
“She cannot risk going to Sassa all the time,” she explained.
“We also feel so sorry for the disabled people who have to come back continuously because of the idiotic Sassa systems.
“My mother and I went on Friday and we were there at 8am and out by 11.30am, but we were told we needed to come back to submit additional forms.
“When we went back at 7am the queue was miles long. We left and when we went back there were streams of people outside again.
“A few weeks ago the excuse was an IT issue and now some of the staff have Covid-19 they said.”
Cheryl noticed the woman who was helping her at Sassa also didn’t give her an affidavit of assets and liabilities.
“So they send you back and forth to join that ridiculous queue over and over because you don’t have the right forms – there is always an excuse,” she explained.
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“Honestly, we know that Sassa is in shambles, but surely the management can help with a better queuing system. Surely they can get students or people who want work experience and no pay to assist or something like this.
“It’s really so sad. There are woman and children queuing from 5am and they are sometimes sent away because it’s closing time.
“We have a car but most people have to pay for transport. The poor disabled people don’t even have chairs, so they end up standing the whole day.
“If the online system was working effectively it would be amazing.”
Nandi Mosia, spokesperson for Sassa in Gauteng, responded:
“We had a minor setback with migration of networks late in December; however, that was promptly addressed and we have been fully operational in January without any challenges except the expected queues.
“As previously communicated, all temporary disability grants were stopped in January, thus creating an influx of people re-applying. However, Sassa put in place a plan in December to deal with the numbers.”
