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The most vulnerable and marginalised in the ZF Mcgawu region continue to suffer double blows with an already meagre social grant since the SASSA pay-points were removed from shops in Rietfontein, van Zylsrus and other areas.

These systems were taken away in December last year, with promises of upgrades that have yet to materialise.

To add insult to injury, the Upington post office constantly experiences delays in grant pay-outs due to servers being offline as a result of loadshedding that exacerbates unreliable communication networks.

Grant recipients in the Kalahari already have to pay exorbitant travel costs of nearly R400 to travel more than 600km to and from the nearest SASSA pay point that is not even in working order.

Most beneficiaries have not yet opened a bank account to receive their social grants or are registered with the EasyPay Everywhere (EPE) accounts due to accessibility and affordability. This had made it impossible for some beneficiaries to withdraw their grants for months on end.

Beneficiaries have since become even more destitute and indebted to local opportunists who exploit this crisis for their own benefit by holding onto their SASSA cards and making withdrawals from indebted clients.

It is unacceptable that grant recipients are held captive by the Department of Social Development’s inadequacy and the delay to finalise the installation of the so-called “upgraded” machines.

I have submitted a letter to the MEC of Social Development, Nontobeko Vilakazi, to find out why these machines were removed, why it is taking so long to replace them and who the service provider is that was appointed to install these machines.

We cannot turn a blind eye to the suffering that this department is causing to especially vulnerable people in our society.

The DA will apply pressure to the department to urgently reinstate payouts to affected areas, as they are constitutionally mandated to ensure uninterrupted pay outs of social grants to beneficiaries.

Issued by Priscilla Isaacs MPL - DA Northern Cape Provincial Spokesperson of Social Development