Long waiting hours for social grants a big concern
Most of the senior citizens arrived as early as 03.00am at the pay points in Elukwatini.
ELUKWATINI – Old and frail senior citizens continue being dealt a bitter blow each time they have to receive their monthly social grants.
This was the observation and great concern expressed by MEC for Social Development, Thandi Shongwe today when she found senior citizens lined up in a very long queue awaiting to receive their monthly payment.
What was of much concern was the fact that most of the elderly citizens had arrived there at around 03.00 and had to wait for the arrival of their money at the Boxer Stores paypoint.
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“My biggest concern is the elderly to be made to wait very long hours. I will intervene by speaking to SASSA to come up with a better system that will drastically improve the payment system here.
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Imagine what time they left their homesteads if they arrived here at 03.30, they should have been served on time and returned home.”
She added that another disturbing factor is the issue of child support grants recipients coming today when they should be collecting only on Wednesday.
“It’s not fair because these youngsters are at the front of the queue, but unfortunately, they won’t receive theirs today although it will reflect, it can only be released from Wednesday. I know that some youngsters pretend to be standing in for their grandparents, yet it’s for social grants,” she pointed out.
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She spent some time negotiating with security and the youngsters to allow the elderly to the front of the queue. She also did what she’s famous for, spraying sanitizers on them and educating them on the importance of wearing face masks during the level 4 lockdown period.
As she was about to depart after three hours, the money had been exhausted at Boxer Stores and they were still waiting for the delivery of the money.
“It’s sad to leave them in this state, but we’ve been assured that the money will be delivered shortly. This situation needs to be corrected promptly.
We should gradually rise to a situation whereby every beneficiary receives their monthly grants straight from the bank,” she concluded.
