Barry Streek
Minister of Social Development Zola Skweyiya has ordered an immediate inquiry into the delay earlier this week in the payment of about 400 000 of the more than 3,5-million social grants.
People receiving grants should have received a minimum 5,6% increase at the beginning of the month, but instead had to wait because the government was late in the transfer of its payments.
“This is totally unacceptable. I want the department to get to the bottom of this problem immediately and give me a full report before the end of this month,” Skweyiya said .
Skweyiya said he will take action against any individual or group that is found to have been either directly or indirectly responsible for the delay in the pension payouts.
“We certainly will no longer tolerate a situation where the poor people, especially the most vulnerable, like the elderly persons, the children and people with disabilities should go through such trauma and frustration when they are supposed to get what is constitutionally their right.”
Skweyiya, who is out of the country, sent his apologies to all the beneficiaries affected by the delayed payout. Social Development director general, Angela Bester, also expressed her apology for the inconvenience.
Old age, disability and care dependency social grants went up from R540 to R570 on July 1, while grants to military veterans increased from R558 to R588. Foster child grants increased from R390 to R410, while the grant-in-aid and the child support grant went up from R100 to R110.
Earlier this year Skweyiya said the government social welfare grants were critical in alleviating poverty for millions of poor households in South Africa.