The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) Chief Executive Officer, Mr Themba Matlou has expressed satisfaction at the social grants review processes and the overall
operations at SASSA local offices in North-West.
This comes as CEO Matlou, joined by his executives, concluded his working visit to the province to assess and monitor operations at SASSA local offices whilst unlocking
bottlenecks hindering seamless service provision to the beneficiaries.
His working visit started on Tuesday, 05 August, where he visited Boxer, Shoprite retail stores at Ramotshere Local Office in Zeerust, where he monitored the August social
grants payments and assessed the progress of Beneficiary Biometric Enrolment Pilot. On Wednesday, he proceeded to Mahikeng to engage staff members from various SASSA
offices in the province to engage them on various issues and further briefed members of the media from all corners of the province.
On Thursday, 07 August, Matlou concluded his visit to the province with a visit to Mahikeng Local Office where he interacted and assisted social grant beneficiaries with
challenges they were facing.
The visit by CEO Matlou bears testimony to the undertaking and commitment he made last month that the Agency will leave no stone unturned in improving operations in local
offices and ensure that the beneficiaries are not inconvenienced by the ongoing social grants reviews. Further to this, a number of SASSA executives were dispatched to various
offices across the country to offer a helping hand in local offices and ensure that the August payment cycle runs smoothly.
“In my visit to North-West, I did not pick up any serious issues and our beneficiaries received their grants without any hindrances, and our staff has been on top of their game including the merchants. We are satisfied by what we found, and we seem to have overcome the teething problems that we experienced in the last few months”, said Matlou.
In addition, Matlou said that the few beneficiaries that did not receive their grants came to the offices for review and they were assisted speedily, stating that SASSA systems are gradually improving.
Importantly, the CEO mentioned that out of 1200 beneficiaries flagged in Mahikeng, a total of 700 beneficiaries headed the call and visited the local offices to review their grants, signaling a positive sign that people are starting to see the importance of the process.
“Out of the 700 people who came for reviews in Mahikeng, we found that 69 people are working and no longer qualify to receive a grant. This is a significant number that has burdened our system, and we are happy with progress being made. We are starting to find the culprits through our functioning systems and the dedication shown by our staff
members at local offices, he added.
In conclusion, he called on the public, especially SASSA beneficiaries, to remain calm as the Agency navigates through this important review process in an efforts to root out
fraudulent elements in the system whilst ensuring that the right grant is paid to the eligible beneficiaries, thus saving the public purse from manipulation.
