Image: Screengrab/ @MDNNews
The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) has launched an investigation following an incident at its Dundee office where an official was captured on video shouting and disrespecting social grant beneficiaries.
The agency said it is concerned about the incident and issued an apology. It also committed to “strive for continuous enhancement of service delivery to meet our client’s expectations”.
According to witnesses at the scene, beneficiaries had been waiting for more than two hours before the Sassa official’s outburst. During that time, the official had reportedly refused to assist some beneficiaries.
In the video, one of the beneficiaries can be heard telling the official: “You seem to have had a problem with us since we got here.” The Sassa official then threatened to destroy the beneficiary’s phone.
When another person threatened to report the official, she responded by saying: “Go report me right now, you are already late you should have already left to go report me. You can go, I don’t care.”
The situation deteriorated when clients confronted the official about her attitude.
The confrontation resulted in her allegedly refusing to provide further assistance to anyone.
The incident highlighted concerns about the behaviour of public servants. Many gave their opinions on social media.
“Some government workers give really bad service. This is due to the lack of accountability and no way to rate their performance. Although I don’t like the idea of privatisation of state enterprises, incidents like this make it hard to support rude workers. Tragic,” said Penuel, commenting on the incident.
Mokone added his own sentiments, stating: “In a country where public servants rank above citizens and zero accountability, this is what happens.”
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In response to the incident, Sassa announced that “a senior management team from the regional office will be deployed to visit the Dundee local office to monitor service delivery and make proper interventions”.
According to a Sassa statement released on Thursday, its KZN Regional Executive Manager Thamo Mzobe has directed the Midlands district manager to conduct an immediate investigation into the incident.
The manager is expected to “use relevant internal channels and processes to engage the staff member”.
“Sassa takes seriously and thoroughly investigates any alleged behaviour that violates the code of conduct,” the agency stated in response to the viral video.
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Sassa also apologised to its affected clients.
“We regret this incident and extend our apologies for what the clients experienced.”
It made it clear that there will be consequences for any proven misconduct.
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