Over the last few weeks I have touched on the issue of social grants a few times.
I think that every little bit helps in these difficult times.
Yet, as much as I am always one to look out for the silver lining in everything, Sassa has just left a bitter taste in my mouth.
On Tuesday, 21 April, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that a special R350 Covid-19 social distress grant would be made available to all those who were unemployed and who are not receiving an income via any other grant or UIF.
Though R350 is ten times less than minimum wage and not nearly enough for anyone (much less a family) to survive on, many people were very grateful for it.
Anything is better than nothing.
By Friday, 22 May, Sassa had received nearly five million applications for this particular grant.
On the same day, they announced that they had only paid out the R350 to 10 people.
I don’t know whether to laugh, scream or cry. Perhaps I should do all of it at once.
I would have preferred that Sassa had all their ducks in a row before they let the president make that announcement on 21 April, or at the very least have some sort of plan in place.
ACT UP: President Ramaphosa
Sadly, that was not the case.
Very little information around this grant was given.
At one point they gave out a WhatsApp number (through which I am sure many applied) only to change it two weeks later.
Sassa offices were closed for most of the lockdown and only opened last week, and queues of people - many of whom were elderly and sick - snaked around the buildings.
Some people even slept outside the Sassa offices to make sure they would be attended to.
Sadly, many who have applied for the R350 distress grant have not yet heard back from Sassa, and don’t know whether their applications have been successful or not.
All they know is that their application has been registered.
I could write paragraphs and paragraphs on what the Minister said, what the Sassa CEO said, what opposition political parties have said - but it doesn’t matter.
The fact is, the money has not been paid to the masses.
That’s the bottom line, and from my side I can only apologise for the timeframes I have written about in this column over the last weeks, which Sassa has not kept to.
I sincerely hope that Sassa gets their act together and starts paying out these grants to the people who need it most.