R2K welcomes the Constitutional Court ruling to ensure that social grants will be paid this month – with no delays and no deductions! In letting the payment plan reach the level of crisis we had before the ruling, SASSA has gambled with the livelihoods of 17 million people! Many of these beneficiaries may not know or understand the full extent of the ruling, or what it will mean for the payment of social grants and deductions from grants by CPS.

Despite having three years to solve this problem, and many warnings by civil society, SASSA and Minister Bathabile Dlamini left finding a solution to the last minute, putting the means of survival for the poorest and most vulnerable at risk. Minister Dlamini must resign or must be fired!

The Right2Know Campaign supports the call for Hands Off Our Grants! Unlawful and unauthorised deductions have been made or enabled by Net1 and its subsidiaries. Only the poorest and most vulnerable are targeted – the old, the infirm and children. The Net1 group subsidiary CPS have seemingly traded in the personal information of grant beneficiaries – for financial gain. We demand that beneficiaries’ personal information is protected!

Right2Know will be holding a town hall meeting tomorrow in Mitchells Plain, on the eve of the grants payments, to give feedback on the Constitutional Court ruling and the actions of the #HandsOffOurGrants Campaign over the last month. The meeting will also give space for grant beneficiaries to speak out about their experiences and for strategy planning going forward.

R2K will continue to support the Hands Off Our Grants Campaign and put pressure on SASSA and the DSD to ensure that all grant beneficiaries receive their grants with no delays and no deductions! We demand that SASSA insource this service at the end of the new contract with CPS to ensure that there can be no more profiteering from this essential and basic service.

Where: EASTRIDGE COMMUNITY CENTRE. 4 Siegfried Street, Eastridge, Mitchells Plain
When: Friday, 31 April 2017, 10h00 - 14h00

For further comment contact:
Vainola Makan, R2K WC organiser: 062 014 4969
Ghalib Galant, R2K WC coordinator: 082 320 8609

#OngaziMakazi!
#HandsOffOurGrants
#SASSAmustpay!
#DlaminiMustGo!