150,000 South Africans await government payout for January as cries of hunger soar

“Our people are going to bed hungry, and they are now in the bottomless pit of poverty.”.

This is according to Gabriel Mabitle of the civic organisation, #PayTheGrants in response to the South Africa Social Security Agency’s (Sassa) failure to pay around 150,000 grant beneficiaries this month.

According to Sassa, the payment delay was the result of a verification process to prevent fraud.

The department claims that people who have not updated their personal information, such as banking details, names, addresses, and ID numbers, were not paid their grants.

With schools opening next week, #PayTheGrants believes that those affected by the non-payments of the grants are facing a “crisis situation”.

“It’s a very sad story,” Mabitle said.

“People were already in so much debt, those that are on grants did not have a Christmas, it was very bleak, and now this. We at #PayTheGrants are getting calls and messages every day from people who don’t know what to do because they have not gotten their money. People are going to bed hungry because of this,” he said.

It is not the first time grant recipients have been left without payment.

In September last year, around 600,000 people, or 10% of social grant recipients, namely the elderly using the Sassa/Postbank Gold cards, were affected by late or partial payments of social grants, prompting a nationwide furore over the delayed payments to the most vulnerable.

Rachel Bukasa, the director of civic organisation, Black Sash said they were waiting for clarity from the Department of Social Development on the latest delay.

“What is usually said is that it is a system issue, or it’s an attempt at preventing fraud, but it is really just a smokescreen. I think the reality is that there’s a fundamental deeper problem with the system of payment. Because, as you know, this is not the first time that payment has been delayed. It is every second month, and it shows a deeper problem and that the system is not efficient as it should be,” Bukasa said.

Bukasa said this payment delay will be particularly hard on beneficiaries who would be looking to buy school lunches and school clothes for their children.

“What do people do if they just don’t have the money? The situation is dire. For ordinary South Africans, January is a long month, but it is another thing for people who rely on grant money to feed their families. The money they get is not for luxuries, it is for survival. There are literally people going to bed hungry because of this,” she said.

Bukasa added that the latest debacle could force people to turn to loan sharks, if they have not already done so.

“For example, if someone has already taken the loan and we rely on the grant to pay it back and now they have not got the money, they will be in further debt with these loan sharks with their reckless lending. A couple of months back we saw a mom who killed herself and her children because she did have any money. This is an issue of dignity that affects mental health,” Bukasa said.

Bridget Masango, Democratic Alliance (DA) spokesperson for Social Development said: “For many mothers, the Child Support Grant is their only income and Sassa’s payment failure places additional strain on them at the start of the school year when they have to purchase school uniforms, shoes, and other supplies – never mind ensuring that their children do not become part of South Africa’s horrendous malnutrition statistics.”

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