A Retreat woman says she has been waiting since January for her dead mother’s unpaid Sassa money.
Luna Sylvester, 50, says her beloved mother, Lilian Smith, 70, passed away before Sassa could reimburse her for her January pension which didn’t come through that month.
“My mother was not well at all and asked my brother to withdraw her money. There was a problem and the card was blocked and it said she needed to contact Sassa.
“I made contact with the Bellville offices and they said they would send someone out for a home visit from the Post Office,” Luna explains.
The inspector came and promised to come back the next day, 9 January, but it was too late.
“When he came the next day, they were just removing my mom’s body. She had passed on.
“He told me I needed to go to the Sassa office and do a death claim. I did and submitted all forms and paperwork,” Luna says.
She was told her mother’s unpaid pension for January would be paid over to her and that the claim process would take about three months.
“After three months I haven’t heard anything from Sassa and I started sending emails.
“The manager at Wynberg then asked me to have a meeting with him. I was a bit late for the meeting but an employee showed me on the system my mom’s money was deducted in a place called Giffie, and someone also tried to withdraw after her death in Monte Vista.
“This is money that is due to my mom and I still haven’t heard anything,” Luna adds.
PASSED AWAY: Pensioner Lilian Smith of Retreat
SASSA Regional Spokesperson, Shivani Wahab confirms the Lilian's social grant was not collected for the month of January.
"In the case of unclaimed benefits, social assistance is payable until the last day of the month in which a beneficiary passed away. Unclaimed benefits must be paid by SASSA to the person liable for the funeral expenses of the deceased beneficiary. This is on condition that an application for such payment is made within six months after the death of the beneficiary," Wahab says.
"With the new verification process that took effect, it was discovered that the social grant was fraudulently withdrawn from the late beneficiary's account on 18 June 2019, using an alleged fraudulent SASSA card."
Wahab says the matter is under investigation.
"Ms Sylvester visited her respective SASSA Local Office on the 13 September 2019 and completed the required affidavit. The matter was then escalated to SAPO for further investigation. Once the matter has been finalised, Ms Sylvester will receive the unclaimed benefit amount," Wahab says.