Family angry over SASSA disability grant debacle

AN Avoca family are at their wit’s end after a battle to get the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) to pay a disability grant. Lizelle Vrey, said her son, Ruan, has not yet received this month’s grant of R1 690.

According to Lizelle, this is the first month there had been a hiccup with grant payments for her son despite assurances from SASSA that the payment cycle for this month had gone off without any major incidents.

“We normally go to Checkers where we draw the money for his grant payment but this month, his card was declined. We were referred to the SASSA office in Durban, however, once we saw a clerk we were told to keep trying to withdraw the money. We tried this method for four more days but still kept having the same issue. Once we got back to the offices in the CBD the officials could not provide any answers as to why the card was blocked and how long it would take to sort out.

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“We were then told to go to the EasyPay offices which I thought was weird because the contract with Cash Pay Master Services had expired. However again we were pushed from pillar to post with no real solution. I also spoke to two other women in the queues who had similar issues but hadn’t received their grants for two months. It has been incredibly frustrating for us as we have no answers and no way forward. In a way, Ruan is lucky because he has us but this is his only source of income,” she said.

Vrey said she would continue trying to get the agency to sort out the issue.

The issue comes on the back of a historic milestone for the partnership between SASSA and SAPO regarding the payment of social grants on 1 August.

Northglen News had requested comment from SASSA spokesman, however, there had been no response at the time of going to print.

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