DA to tackle Lindiwe Zulu over grants debacle

The Democratic Alliance will lodge an urgent complaint at the South African Human Rights Commission on Tuesday against minister of social development Lindiwe Zulu, the social development department, the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) and Postbank for their part in the ongoing social grant payment failures.

The DA said 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 national treasury in unpaid social relief of distress (SRD) grants.

This is while the DA is inundated every month by SRD grant beneficiaries struggling to gain access to their funds.

“These ongoing failures have resulted in an alarming human rights violation, with mothers being compelled to abandon their babies due to their inability to feed them, creating a tragic and heartbreaking situation,” the DA said.

Sassa grants mess – Gungubele says ‘sorry’

DA MP and social development spokeswoman Bridget Masango will lay the urgent complaint at the Human Rights Commission offices in Johannesburg later on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Zulu is blaming technical “failures” for the thousands of recipients who are yet to receive their money and said the “glitches” began when the Post Office and its subsidiary, Postbank, adopted a new payment system in October 2022.  — (c) 2023 NewsCentral Media

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