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The DA will be writing to the Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu, to request immediate intervention into the unsuitable conditions of the temporary SASSA offices in Mokopane.

Around June 2022, SASSA relocated to Van Rensburg Hall after being compelled to leave the previous structure due to safety concerns. During the DA's oversight of the temporary offices, we discovered that the offices were shut down and the employees were unable to provide the beneficiaries with quality services, despite empty promises of an alternative revamped space. 

Challenges include:

• Broken lights cause officials to work in the dark;
• Water outages for weeks on end;
• The lack of wheelchair-friendly facilities and steps to the entrance;
• One toilet for clients which was filthy and one toilet for officials;
• No generator or backup for loadshedding; and
• Overgrown grounds around the hall where snakes are found.

During loadshedding, only 30 or 40 clients can be assisted daily and scores of beneficiaries are turned away, despite having waited for hours.

Clients and SASSA officials complain about the location of the office, as it is far from the taxi ranks and there are no shops nearby to buy food and refreshments.

The ANC government is failing people dependent on a social grant when they are turned away from SASSA.

We will further submit written questions to both the Ministers for Social Development and Public Works regarding the delay in finding suitable accommodation.

Issued by Beyers Smit MP - DA Political Head for Mokopane