Thousands of people who applied for pensions more than six months ago still have not received their grants
Wisani wa ka Ngobeni
Five Limpopo pensioners have launched a court action in the Pretoria High Court to force the provincial government to process the more than 164000 applications for social grants it has ”systematically” delayed.
Court papers served this week on the province’s MEC for Health and Welfare, Sello Moloto, say the government of Limpopo (formerly Northern Province) has deliberately delayed paying the social grants to impoverished applicants.
The pensioners, who are being assisted by the Legal Resources Centre, say the delay is unlawful and has resulted in severe hardships for many poor people.
The provincial government says it does not have the funds to cover all applications for grants. But the applicants insist that the decision to hold back pension payouts on the grounds of lack of funds infringes the beneficiaries’ rights. They have asked the court to strike down the decision that led to the move.
According to court papers, which have also been served on Minister of Welfare and Social Development Zola Skweyiya, all the applicants are qualified to receive grants. They are over the age of 60 and are severely disabled.They applied for their grants more than six months ago. The Social Assistance Act envisages three months as a reasonable time to process applications.
One of the beneficiaries, Elvis Jonas Nkuna, says in an affidavit that he applied for a disability grant in October 2000. The department only started paying him last month after the Legal Resources Centre intervened early this year.
Nkuna wants the court to order the provincial government to pay him outstanding monthly grants worth more than R5 000 he was only paid for four instead of 14 months.
He also wants the provincial government to pay all other beneficiaries their money from the date of their application, plus 15,5% interest. And he is asking the court to direct the government to release a list of names and details of the affected beneficiaries.
”These people are by definition very poor, probably the poorest, most marginalised and most vulnerable of all classes of adults. They cannot afford lawyers to vindicate their rights.”
The provincial government, Nkuna says, has an obligation to provide a social grant to all beneficiaries and must do so diligently and without delay.
The provincial Department of Health and Welfare said in November it had no money to pay the grants and the accumulated arrears.
The department also said, however, a substantial sum of money would become available when the province’s expenditure review was tabled in January or February. But even then the department did not fully guarantee that everyone would get their grants, saying it would be expected that the government might not have money to accommodate all who qualify as beneficiaries.
The applicants are asking the court to compel the provincial government to pay all beneficiaries.
This is not the first time the department has been dragged to court for mishandling social grants. In 1999 the provincial government was hit with a number of lawsuits after it froze 92000 pensions and disability grants.
The department’s reason at the time was that it wanted to check recipients’ bona fides. Most of the 92000 beneficiaries have since had their grants reinstated. The majority who are not part of the court action are still waiting for their arrears and interest on their arrears, a situation referred to in the court papers.
Speaking at the opening of the Limpopo legislature, Premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi painted a gloomy picture of the province’s ability to address the social grants shortfall.
Ramatlhodi said there was a ”growing burden” being placed on the province’s health and welfare bud- get by welfare demands, such as child support grants, pensions and disability payments.
He said his province has accepted President Thabo Mbeki’s call to ensure that all beneficiaries of social grants are catered for, but it expects the national government to release the necessary funds to cover the costs.
It is not clear whether the national department will do so. However, this week Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel tabled draft legislation in Parliament providing for R2-billion to be allocated to the Department of Social Development to pay social welfare grant arrears.
Manuel said the arrears developed because provinces had put in place ”inequitable” regulations, which led to ”a set of inappropriate incentives in the administration of social pensions”.
”The implementation of the regulations meant that poor South Africans who qualified for grants only received payment from the date of approval of the grants, and not from the date they applied and qualified. Where there were delays in processing and approval of grants, poor beneficiaries were not always paid for the period of the delay,” Manuel said.
The relevant regulations had been changed with effect from December last year, which would result in beneficiaries being entitled to payment from the date of application, if they qualified on that date.
The government had also acknowledged its ”debt” to those beneficiaries who qualified for grant payments between April 1998 and December last year.