Large households were spending an average of R1 000 to R1 500 a month on food, the report said.
The South African Social Security Agency has fixed the “technical glitch” which left thousands of retired people unable to withdraw their state pensions this week.
Sassa said in a statement late on Wednesday that the system had been restored after experiencing “technical challenges” on 4 and 5 September.
“The South African Social Security Agency acknowledges notice from the Postbank regarding resumption of payment withdrawals or transactions following technical challenges experienced by social grant clients on payment days of the 5 and 6 September,” it said.
“Clients can now enjoy the use of the Sassa/Postbank powered cards to make purchases and payments.”
The agency said social grant recipients had been unable to transact at ATMs and various retailers, other than Postbank points of sale, despite the fact that Sassa had deposited funds into beneficiaries’ accounts.
“The technical challenges only affected clients who were using the Sassa/Postbank-powered card. Other clients who were receiving grants at various cash paypoints or other private bank cards were not affected and were able to withdraw their benefits with ease.
“Sassa clients can make use of the alternative methods of payment available to receive their grants through various banks or retailers.”
Cape Town pensioner Helen Maguire said she had gone to withdraw her money at the Checkers store in Plumstead on Tuesday but people waiting in a long queue outside the supermarket warned her that “the system is offline”.
“I do not know what the situation is in the other provinces but I am speaking regarding the situation in the Western Cape. Initially, the date of the payout was 4 September. It was subsequently changed to 5 September.
“Imagine the angst when all of these old-age people arrived at the various payout points, such as Checkers and Pick n Pay, to discover that the funds had not been made available by the state,” an irate Maguire said.
“What is going on with this government? Which public servant is syphoning off these funds to line their own already inflated pockets?”
Maguire said she had eventually been able to withdraw funds at Checkers in Rondebosch, two days later, on Thursday. She said she was fortunate to have financial support from her family but many pensioners had been placed in difficulty as a result of the late payment.
South African Association of Retired Persons director Paul Rosenbrock said it was a sad state of affairs that pensioners had been left cashless for days and unable to meet their urgent commitments, due to Sassa’s technical failure.
“We are very sad about a thing like this because a large number of elderly folk are actually beholden to the state because of the fact that they have to get their money at a certain time. They have financial commitments and they can’t meet those commitments,” he said.
Rosenbrock said pensioners were feeling the impact of the downturn in the economy and many relied on the support of their children.
“People are running out of money due to inflation. We are sorry that people don’t take more note of the needs of senior citizens because they don’t always understand that senior citizens in the last phase of life are using up what they have built up just to exist for the rest of their lives and it is usually a decreasing amount of money,” he said.
“Obviously, they are in deeper trouble than ever before but they are not the only ones because very often their families that support them are also in deeper trouble and the first to be cut out are the elderly people they support because the families themselves are battling.”