VULNERABLE pensioners share harrowing experiences of spending hours in queues, facing staff indifference, and navigating broken systems at Sassa offices across the country.

With multiple visits required for basic services, the elderly said they are left feeling humiliated, while spending scarce resources on transport for repeated trips.

Frustrated pensioners and their caregivers said they felt that their dignity had been stripped as they begged for assistance from a system, which was meant to support them.

One woman shared the painful ordeal of taking her frail, 82-year-old mother to a township Sassa office, west of Durban.

Her goal was to apply for a grant-in-aid of just R500 more a month to help pay for her mother’s caregiver. But it took three visits over two weeks to achieve what should have been a straightforward application.

“Taking my mother, who is mostly dependent on a cane or a wheelchair, to a township-based Sassa office was not easy. On the first visit my mother and two others, one of whom was also in a wheelchair, were deemed as “emergency” cases.

“But they waited from 7am to around 3pm before they were attended to. The plan for the second visit was to arrive after lunchtime to avoid the crowd. But this was met with disapproval. ‘You should have been here in the morning,’ was the response from staff. 

“This made no sense. A woman who arrived at 9am was still waiting to be attended to when we arrived at 2.15pm, and our turn was directly after hers. One elderly woman, who carried an oxygen tank, arrived late to meet with the district surgeon. To get a follow-up date, she waited five hours.”

Despite visibly struggling, staff offered no help. A misunderstanding by a staff member even led to her being turned away, mistaking her breathing difficulty as a reason to postpone. 

“He eventually realised she needed to plug in the oxygen tank, and he informed them to use an office space. Neither the official or anyone else from Sassa checked on her. As she was wheeled out, she shouted that the staff knew nothing about ‘Batho Pele’, people first.”

Physical access to the office itself posed another barrier. 

“The facility, which deals with people in wheelchairs, needs to be disability friendly. Trying to manoeuver a wheelchair through a single, narrow door and the ramp does not cover the width of the door was not easy. You had to physically raise the wheelchair off the ground to get into the cramped office. 

“Sitting at the Sassa office meant you had sufficient time to observe.  Some staff walked casually from one end to the other, with no patients before them, and for what seemed a considerable time. The computers “were slow”. At 11am people, who queued since the morning, were told an official had to leave for an important meeting at 1pm and they should return the following week. The thumbprint machine stopped working, and making an inquiry could mean a curt response. In all this time, my mother became fidgety,” said the daughter. 

She said despite the issues, people did not speak up. 

“Most of the people were too scared to complain. What Sassa needs is a district supervisor to arrive unannounced, diarise shortfalls, and work with Sassa head office and staff to create a conducive and efficient service. I also think it would be perfect for Sassa offices to open near Home Affairs departments. It would reduce the time, and money, of people travelling between the offices.

“My mother’s grant-in-aid was approved on her third visit, and we got a smile from the staff member as she completed the paperwork,” said the daughter.

At the Phoenix SASSA office, frustration runs equally deep. The POST visited there on Friday.

One man, currently under review by Sassa for receiving a monthly stipend from his son to help him foot his bills, said his attempts to explain his situation had gone nowhere.

“This is my sixth time here. Every time, there is an excuse – it is either there is no water, they are fumigating, or closing early. The staff are always on their phones or on break. They told me to come back when I was next in line. Now I have waited again. I arrive at 6am and leave at 4pm without help.

“I am under review because my son puts money into my account for me to pay my bills. They think I am receiving an income and are now investigating me. They are always excuses. They are quick to pay us late but slow to fix problems. They always close early on Fridays, and the workers sit on their phones and they ignore us,” he said.

Another man, applying for his old-age pension, described being trapped in a cycle of missing documents, even when he brought everything they had requested.

“They keep changing what they want. I have been coming for a month, sitting six hours at a time with no water, no food. The 5-litre water bottle they have is old, and they do not give us cups. Many people fall sick while waiting. I started my process almost a month ago and yet here I am sitting in this line for six  hours at a time. They treat us like animals. They are wasting our time, we are not young. Our pressure and sugar drops and we suffer in line. 

“They are slow and have no care. We stick it out because we are desperate, but our health is the price we pay. Taxi fare is R65 each time. Yet I see rich people getting grants while we struggle. Those of us in the line are underprivileged, we need the money which is why we stick it out. I do not have money to waste but they do not care,” he said. 

A third account from Phoenix came from a woman applying for the same grant-in-aid as the woman in Chesterville. She has serious health issues: heart stents, kidney failure, and numb feet.

“I gave them a letter from Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital, but they rejected it because it listed my medication. Now I have to wait until February to get another letter. Meanwhile, others who do not even need it are getting the grant easily.

“People who do not need the extra grant seem to be getting it very easily, while I have severe issues and they do not even bat an eyelid. They treat us badly while we are old and desperate for our measly amount of money. We need the money which is why we subject ourselves to this treatment.  We are old, we are sick, and we are treated badly. We get R2300, with the grant-in-aid it would be R2800. What can we do with that when everything costs so much?,” she said. 

The POST

Source link