EDITOR – There’s no evidence SASSA is ready or will be able to disburse R140 billion at the end of March this year, even though the department should be quite good at what it does by now.
The Department of Social Development (DSD) can propose ‘sweeping and comprehensive’ social security reforms all day long, but can SA afford them or need to when the department’s own in-house agency claims it will take over the task? And do that before it becomes the most infamous April Fool ever?
While the government’s existing policy of social protection for the elderly, children and disabled people has been a markedly successful intervention to combat poverty and reduce inequality by giving money out, the people tasked with giving it out are about to stop giving it out. And all of their solutions are suspect.
In a world where the 10-kilometer voting queue has disappeared except outside and inside Home Affairs, and almost any transaction can be made instantly with something like a Spazapp, why not present the problem to the place where the government is taking money in!
The extremely efficient, ultra-sophisticated, globally acclaimed South African Revenue Services should welcome the task of diverting outgoing social security funds at the source by incorporating the social grant system data base – without all the deadwood – as simply another part of its slick computerised revenue service, which SARS is, just properly run.
My tax money says that SARS would not take more than a morning of computer time to ‘fix’ things, while continuing to make sure that more money comes in than how much goes out – in this case, 3.2 per cent of SA’s GDP!
Voters, just try withholding the money you are paying in!
And of course the voters gained by SARS putting up an umbrella under the rain falling on this parade might even offset any votes lost by shutting down part of a defective department.
Tom Dennen
Durban
