‘The DA wont take away your grants,’ says MP as Sassa branches inspected

DA shadow minister for social development Bridgette Masango said the party would not cancel social grants if it was elected into power after the elections.

Grants part of DA policy

On Friday Masango carried out an inspection of the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) in different parts of Gauteng. Other DA officials did the same inspection in other parts of the country.

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“We want to say as the DA we will not take away the grants because the grants are enshrined in the South African constitution, they are also in the social development policy of the DA,” Masango said.

ALSO READ: WATCH: Sassa staff ‘traumatised’ by ‘rituals’ performed in office after-hours

SRD grant problems

Masango interacted with different people at several Sassa offices. She said the common complaint she had was about Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grants not being paid to recipients who were loaded on the system.

“The SRD grant is the most popular one and there are many complaints about it,” Masango said.

She said there had been reports of fraud related to the SRD grant, in some instances government employees were allegedly involved.

“There seems to be somethings done by the staff where they change people’s ID numbers and phone numbers and the grant comes to them and you receive nothing, it’s a messy grant,” she said.

According to Masango, around 10 million South Africans receive the SRD grant.

“I have raised some of the issues with Sassa and they would say so many people have been suspended and so on and so forth. The last time I spoke to them they said the system is robust and can counter instances of fraud,” she said.

ALSO READ: Sassa launches online grant application portal

Masango said the Sassa offices around Gauteng were packed with people who had come to complain about their grants.

In an interview with eNCA, Sassa spokesperson Paseka Letsatsi said the agency had measures to deal with fraudulent activities connected to the SRD grant.

He said those who suspected that their grants were being stolen should contact the Sassa offices.