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A parliamentary question posed by my colleague Natasha Michael, Democratic Alliance Shadow Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, has revealed a severe backlog in the approval of applications for social grants by the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA). (reply available on request). This leaves the poorest and most vulnerable South Africans desperate for help but unable to get the assistance they qualify for.

To date 27, 633 applications have not been approved by SASSA including 15,127 child support grants, 7,558 disability grants and 3,344 old age grants. Limpopo is the poorest performing province accounting for 32.45% of the backlog, followed by the Free State with 24.12% and KwaZulu Natal at 22.21%.

Even though the latest data reveals that the backlogs stand at 27, 633, the DA believes these figures significantly understate the reality of the situation. The Eastern Cape for example only has a total of 238 outstanding backlogs but we believe this figure could be higher. (see graph on figures below)

SASSA was established in April 2006 to solve problems like delays in approving and the paying out of grants, corruption, poor facilities at pay-points and high delivery costs, which resulted in several damning judgments against provincial departments. But the sheer number of backlogs and the legal action initiated against SASSA since its inception is proof that it is failing to deliver on its mandate.

The ANC government has a legacy of failing the poorest of the poor and the most vulnerable members of society. The elderly, disabled and those with dependents in their care should not have to endure fighting for the money they need to survive because of an inadequate system. But many have had to apply for legal assistance after being failed by the government and took their cases to court. The DA parliamentary question also reveals that to date there are 4,634 legal procedures being brought against SASSA.

A number of cases have reached the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court in the past. One Supreme Court judge described the inefficiency of the state in the processing of social grant applications as a ‘war of attrition' against the poor.

We will therefore be asking further parliamentary questions to establish the facts and will write to the chairperson of the Social Development Portfolio Committee to ask that the Minister appears before the committee and provides an explanation with regards to the large backlog.

The massive backlog reported by SASSA is a result of the government's failure to properly vet SASSA employees when this institution was created, which simply resulted in the transfer of the same problems to the new institution. The DA warned then that this would only create further problems and the backlogs are evident of the fact that the system does not work.

SASSA's backlog figures

Province Backlogs
Disability Old age Child support grant War veterans Care dependency Foster Care Total % of total outstanding amount
Mpumalanga 18 13 56 0 3 47 137 0.50%
Eastern Cape 29 31 151 0 3 24 238 0.86%
Gauteng 58 30 180 0 5 16 289 1.05%
North West 175 72 126 0 28 84 485 1.76%
Northern Cape 518 61 106 0 20 150 855 3.09%
Western Cape 1087 276 2380 0 48 70 3861 13.97%
KwaZulu Natal 943 1817 2942 2 83 349 6136 22.21%
Free State 3818 411 1792 0 517 126 6664 24.12%
Limpopo 912 633 7394 0 16 13 8968 32.45%
7558 3344 15127 2 723 879 27633