The Department of Social Development says it is taking steps to ease pressure on South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) offices across the country, amid mounting complaints about long queues, overcrowding and delays in accessing social grants.
Social Development Minister Dina Pule has announced that 1,000 young contract workers will be deployed to SASSA offices nationwide to help improve efficiency and service delivery.
The announcement was made during the Minister’s oversight visits to the Bellville and Khayelitsha SASSA offices, where staff raised concerns about severe understaffing, a lack of equipment and inadequate management support.
Pule says the growing demand for social assistance is placing significant pressure on both SASSA staff and beneficiaries, with approximately 19 million South Africans currently receiving social grants.
However, beneficiaries say the measures announced by the department are urgently needed, particularly at offices where long queues and poor queue management remain a daily reality.
Radio 786 visited the SASSA Athlone office on Wednesday and Thursday following repeated complaints about failed systems, lengthy queues and beneficiaries being turned away when attempting to reapply for grants that had been placed under review.
The visits found large crowds of frustrated beneficiaries, including people with disabilities and mothers accompanied by children under the age of five, waiting to be assisted.
Some beneficiaries told Radio 786 that they had resorted to sleeping outside the offices overnight in an attempt to secure a place in the queue. Others said they had paid people to hold their place, sometimes borrowing money to do so, in the hope of being assisted earlier.
The situation has raised questions about the effectiveness of SASSA’s queue management system. SASSA spokesperson Andile Tshona says systems are in place to manage queues and address delays. However, he was unable to respond directly to concerns raised by Radio 786 about whether the system is being effectively implemented at the Athlone office.
Beneficiaries also reported lengthy delays in receiving grants after submitting applications. Some people told Radio 786 they had been waiting for as long as five months after applying for assistance.
The ongoing difficulties have left many beneficiaries frustrated, particularly those who rely on social grants as their primary source of income.
The Department says the deployment of the 1,000 contract workers is intended to strengthen capacity at local offices and improve efficiency as demand for social assistance continues to rise.
