social grants

The South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) says that South Africa must find alternatives to its social grant system.

The call comes at a time when the Department of Social Development is celebrating the issuing of millions of South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) social-grant debit cards, which it says will help to curb social fraud.

The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) is scrambling to live up to its promises, which has left thousands of pensioners without grant payouts in September 2013, due to an administrative error.

However, SASSA, which has assured the public the issue will be dealt with in the next few days, promised to restore more than 3 000 suspended grants in the Western Cape alone.

Great-grandmother, Fatima Ross’ pension was suspended after she, like thousands of others, was not registered for SASSA’s new biometric pay system.

The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) says it will do a thorough check on the beneficiaries who did not register for social grants, to find out whether they were fraudulently registered previously.

SASSA chief executive officer, Virginia Peterson, states that there are more than 470 000 beneficiaries who failed to register during the re-registration period for social grants.

Losing bidder, AllPay, has turned to the Constitutional Court in yet another attempt to have the multibillion-rand social service grant tender process declared invalid.

AllPay lost the R10 billion tender for the payment of social security grants to Cash Paymaster Services.

The company is appealing the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) judgment passed in March this year, which found that the tender process followed by the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) in awarding the contract to Cash Paymaster Services was ‘valid and legal’.

The Department of Social Development has welcomed a court ruling confirming the validity of a tender given to Cash Paymaster for issuing social grants.

In a press statement, Minister Bathabile Dlamini, points out that, "It has been a long journey through which several cabinet ministers and senior government officials were branded corrupt."

Dlamini, who is delighted that, "Justice has been served," argues that CPS was awarded the tender purely on the basis of a good payment solution which was to curb abuse, fraud, and corruption while saving money for government.

The welfare sector will get a boost in this year’s budget, with an extra R600 million set aside to fund NGOs hard-hit by a drop in donor funding and an additional R938 million to create posts for social workers over the medium-term.

There were 100 000 NGOs registered in South Africa in June last year, 40 percent of which provided social welfare services to children, the elderly, the disabled and victims of abuse.

According to an article in the Sowetan newspaper, social grants recipients in Limpopo are being forced to queue overnight to get their grants.

Single mothers, destitute children and the elderly have been compelled to queue overnight for places before morning.

This follows a call by the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) for recipients to re-register to root out fraud and corruption in a process that is expected to run for the next six months.

President Jacob Zuma has reiterated his support for the campaign that encourages South Africans to productively use the land to improve food security for millions of citizens.

Zuma states that in order to reduce food insecurity in rural areas, government is promoting food gardens and other forms of subsistence agriculture, involving civil society.

He stresses the importance of people going back to the land and not to view social grants, wage employment and non-agricultural informal activities as the only source of income for rural households.

Relatives who take care of orphaned or abandoned children can qualify for foster grants thanks to a recent court order.

This follows a ruling by the South Gauteng High Court last week, that family members could apply as foster parents and receive a foster grant, which is about R500 more than the child care grant.

The judgment is the first time a high court had the chance to interpret the Children's Act and define who may apply for foster grants and what child should be fostered.

The latest Statistics South Africa (STATS SA) figures released this week suggest social grants and a large public service are taking their toll on government coffers.

STATS SA’s Financial Statistics of National Government report shows the government’s cash payments for operating activities rose by R60.5 billion to R791.9 billion in 2010-11‚ from R731.3 billion in 2009-10‚ mainly due to an increase in grant payments and employee compensation.