A THOROUGH explanation regarding illegal deductions on social grants, especially on those of elderly people in the province is necessary.
This was according to the DA Limpopo, who said they wanted to meet with social development minister Bathabile Dlamini in this regard.
DA member of parliament, Lindy Wilson, last Wednesday said they had discovered recurring illegal deductions during an oversight visit to a Sassa social grant paypoint at Sekutuputu Old Age Home in the Lepelle Nkumpi area last Monday.
She said several social grants beneficiaries handed over evidence that illegal deductions from their grants continued, and had been taking place for almost a year.
“One of the beneficiaries’ slips, clearly shows that R55 was deducted from her grant for prepaid airtime and a further R60 was deducted for pre-paid electricity.
“Another beneficiary, who is supposed to get R1 650 produced a printout showing that her grant was R1 322. There is no explanation for the deduction of R328,” she said.
“The manager at the Sekhukhune Sassa paypoint admitted that these deductions were illegal but indicated that the matter was still being investigated,” Wilson said, adding that deductions from social grants had been a bone of contention for many months and despite assurances by the agency that they would bring a halt to these illegal deductions, the situation continued to go on unabated.
Sassa and the department of social development were expected to present their annual reports to the department of social development committee today (Wednesday) and the DA would be pushing for an immediate intervention and explanation from Dlamini, she said.
Sassa senior manager of communications, Kgomoco Diseko said they did not encourage the practise of debiting beneficiaries’ grant accounts for financial services.
He said that in cases where beneficiaries noticed unauthorised deductions on their grants, they should contact the nearest Sassa office for assistance so that the deductions could be reversed if proven unauthorised. Alternatively beneficiaries could contact Sassa at 0800 60 10 11 to report the problem. “Sassa has started a campaign educating beneficiaries throughout the country and so far the communities have been very receptive. As part of this campaign, door-to-door visits are conducted in the poorest wards to ensure that beneficiaries understand their rights and ensure better access.”
