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If social grants are not paid on 1 April, the consequences for the poorest of the poor in South Africa will be nothing short of catastrophic, says Archbishop Emeritus Njongonkulu Ndungane.

Responding to reports of chaos regarding the contract to pay social grants from 1 April, the Archbishop said the disorganisation and lack of clarity on the part of both the Department of Social Development and the SA Social Security Agency (SASSA) was a disgrace.

“That days before the end of the existing contract, we still have no certainty regarding how social grants will be paid on 1 April is an outrage. These organisations have had years in which to sort out whatever problems there are. A situation in which government is considering emergency measures to ensure the delivery of these grants on 1 April should never have arisen in the first place,” the Archbishop said.

He questioned whether South Africa’s political leadership retained any semblance of empathy for f poor people in the country, adding that he wondered just how much the leadership understood of their situations.

“Not getting one’s social grant is not simply an inconvenience; it’s a calamity. Many of these people have no other income on which to depend.

“The ANC-led government has lost touch with ordinary people, preferring the hallowed halls of power in which the only currency they understand is privilege for themselves. They have forgotten the poor in the dusty plains of the Northern Cape who eke out a living. They have forgotten the poverty-stricken in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, where old people hobble along to stand in long queues to receive a social grant that, in any event, most people would struggle to survive on. They have forgotten the mentally handicapped, the physically disabled and the NGOs who look after them and depend on the grants for their survival. They have forgotten the child-headed households who labour under the most difficult of situations in any event.

“In short, this government has forgotten about the people. But this government should be warned that history shows that when the people are forgotten, the people will rise. Those of us not in this government who fought against apartheid know this. Those in government, to their shame, have forgotten that lesson,” he said.

Archbishop Ndungane added that the fact that the contract problems had not yet been sorted out at the proverbial eleventh hour was a damning indictment on the leadership of President Jacob Zuma, let alone the Social Development Minister, Bathabile Dlamini.

“Minister Dlamini has shown herself to be totally inept and should resign immediately, failing which the President should fire her. The President himself should also take responsibility for not managing this situation properly and allowing this fiasco to happen under his watch,” the Archbishop said.

Issued by Archbishop Emeritus Njongonkulu Ndungane