No end to long queues at SASSA Khayelitsha

The queues on Monday and Tuesday at the South African Social Security Agency in Khayelitsha snaked all the way to the train station. Photo: Mary-Anne Gontsana

GroundUp reported two weeks ago on the lengthy queues at the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) Khayelitsha branch as it opened for the first time this year. A new month, and the queues outside are as long as ever.

The doors opened at 7:30am.

“I am so fed up with coming here and being ultimately turned away. I arrived at 2am, but I am nowhere near the entrance,” said Yoliswa Mbem at around 9am. “My husband was also turned away two weeks back.”

Mbem said she had been turned away the previous week. She had come to apply for a Disability Grant.

Others in the queue had come to book medical appointments for the Disability Grant.

According to SASSA, it has 16 Western Cape offices and the Khayelitsha office is particularly busy, serving approximately 520 people per day.

“Beneficiaries who are wheelchair bound or on crutches are prioritised,” said SASSA spokesperson Shivani Wahab.

But this is small comfort if one has to arrive in the early hours. On Tuesday, a man on crutches with his leg in plaster arrived at 5am. He had to keep sitting on the ground to rest as he waited for hours.

Later in the day, GroundUp saw people on crutches and elderly people with walkers in various places in the queues.

The queues on Monday and Tuesday, when disability and old age grants get priority, snaked all the way to the train station. Some people were sleeping on steps, others had found places to sit, making sure to announce where their spot was in the queue. A woman in a wheelchair huddled for shade under a sign board.

Security guards let about ten to 15 people enter the premises at a time.

Activist Sibongiseni Faku, from Freedom to the Forgotten, a disability rights organisation, said every week SASSA clients battle with the same issues and nothing changes.

“When is SASSA, when is the government going to do something about this?” Faku asked.

She said people were having to put themselves at risk by traveling at night because of criminals.

“SASSA has reiterated the perils of sleepovers at contact points. Whilst our beneficiaries remain a priority, SASSA cannot guarantee the safety of beneficiaries outside of office operating hours,” said Wahab.

The Black Sash said the problem was common throughout the branches and it has engaged with SASSA Western Cape about the problem.

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