The department of social development has tabled an amendment to the Social Assistance Act that civil society organisations believe may worsen the department’s enormous backlog in responding to grant appeals. Last year the department revealed that there were more than 42 000 outstanding.
In March Edna Molewa, the social development minister, introduced the Social Assistance Amendment Bill, which defines the term “disability” and attempts to further regulate eligibility for disability grants.
Ratula Beukman, the Black Sash’s advocacy programme manager, said one consequence of the proposed amendment was that it would prevent people with chronic illnesses, such as asthma, hypertension or even HIV, from accessing disability grants.
“As a society, we simply can’t afford not to invest in people who are chronically ill by providing them the lifeline that a chronic illness grant would represent; with the proposals as it stands it means that people have to become functionally disabled before they can receive social assistance,” she said. This represents a “serious gap within the social assistance system that needs to be addressed”.
But Umunyana Rugege, an attorney at the Aids Law Project, said changes to the Act would not necessarily affect people with chronic illnesses who currently received disability grants. “It depends on the interpretation,” said Rugege, whose main concern is that the legislation is not clear enough.
The Social Assistance Act of 2004 did not define the term “disability”. The amendment Bill now seeks to define disability so that “in respect of an applicant, it means a moderate to severe limitation to his or her ability to function as a result of a physical, sensory, communication, intellectual or mental disability rendering him or her unable to obtain the means needed to enable him or her to provide for his or her own maintenance or be gainfully employed”.
Rugege said the definition is not useful because it uses the word disability to define disability and does not make clear whether people with chronic illnesses fall into the definition.
“We will ask for greater clarity because it leaves things too open for interpretation by administrators,” Rugege said. “Clearer guidelines are needed to assess disability so there is less confusion and less clogging up of the system.”
Rugege said that the Aids Law Project was also concerned that the Bill would introduce a “double process for appeals” in a system already plagued by backlogs.
At present people submit their grant applications to the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa). If they are turned down, they can appeal to an independent appeals tribunal set up by the department of social development to reconsider decisions. But the new Bill would compel applicants to appeal first to Sassa and then to the tribunal.
Rugege said that, instead of improving the effectiveness of the system, this would add another step in the process without providing adequate guidelines. “Our view is that it’s unnecessary and does not address the major issues of service delivery within the department,” she said.
Last week 24 individuals and the Black Sash Trust launched a court application to force the government to resolve the appeals for social grants. In its application the Black Sash pointed out that delays of a year in allocating a date for an appeal hearing are common. Because of these delays, some clients reapply for their grants.
An example cited by the organisation was that of 58-year-old Eastern Cape resident Toto Nomgqo-kwana, who filed an appeal with the tribunal after his application for a disability grant was refused. After waiting eight months for a response, Nomgqokwana reapplied for the grant, which by that time had been approved.
Sarah Sephton, the regional director of the Legal Resource Centre, which is acting on behalf of the Black Sash, said that the department, in addition to resolving the backlogs, should find ways to improve the information given to doctors who make the initial assessment, so that they could make the right decision the first time round.
The Bill is open for written comment until Friday April 16. Public hearings will take place in Parliament on April 20 and 21.