DA to lodge complaint with SAHRC against govt over social grant payments failure
The opposition will on Tuesday approach the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to lodge a complaint against Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu, the Department of Social Development, the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) and Postbank.
CAPE TOWN - The Democratic Alliance (DA) is set to lodge a human rights complaint against the government for its failure to pay pensioners their social grants this month.
The opposition will on Tuesday approach the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to lodge a complaint against Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu, the Department of Social Development, the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) and Postbank.
This follows the ongoing non-payment of social grant payments which resulted from system glitches since 5 September.
READ: Sassa beneficiaries seek alternative grant disburser after Postbank woes
Many have been paid but the DA feels it is too little too late and amounts to a human rights violation.
"Not only is the minister continuing to fail millions of vulnerable grant beneficiaries each month, but her department has also returned more than R15 billion to the national treasury in unpaid social relief of distress grants," said DA social development spokesperson, Bridget Masango.
Meanwhile, Build One South Africa (Bosa) on Monday requested the Financial and Fiscal Commission to probe the department's decision to return the R15 billion in social grants funding to the Treasury.
Bosa said the money has been returned due to Sassa's failure to spend the funds on social grants.
Bosa spokesperson Roger Solomons said there is no excuse why Sassa did not spend the money.
"We are of the view that the funds must be reversed, in order to avoid this ongoing catastrophe, whereby poor and vulnerable citizens are regularly left in the lurch through incompetence, lack of vision and inhumanity by government and this respective department."
