The mother of a 29-year-old man with an alleged mental disability has expressed great disappointment with the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) in Phoenix after they denied their application for a permanent disability grant.
The mother and son from Waterloo in Verulam, who wished to remain anonymous amid fears of victimisation, said the 29-year-old
was left disabled after a fishing trip to uMhloti in 2010. His mother said he never came back home that day leading to them opening a missing persons report. “After 21 days of searching he was brought home by a social worker from the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital who said a passerby found him at the beach. He was in a coma for about 18 days. When he regained consciousness and could speak a little he told the medical staff he is from Waterloo, but could not recall his address. Members of the community who recognised him brought him back home.”
The mother of four said before her son’s attack he was employed as a security guard at King Shaka International Airport. Since then he still has basic skills such as the ability to talk, walk and eat, however, due to the seriousness of his injuries he is unable to have a proper conversation, board a taxi or find decent employment. “I applied for the grant around
2014. It was approved as a temporary grant as they told me his condition could improve. They tried various medicines, some of which even put him back into a coma. From my experience, his condition is definitely deteriorating. I asked the management at SASSA to observe him and whether mental disabilities qualify as a disability. Their response was that if the doctor treating him concluded that if the prescribed medication is controlling his illness then they are unable to process the grant.”
The senior communications and marketing manager for SASSA, Sandy Godlwana, said if a client’s sickness or illness is treatable and controlled with medication the application for disability grant may be rejected. “Every client whose application has been rejected or turned down has to act within 90 days to lodge a written application to SASSA for the agency’s decision to be reconsidered and if they fail to act in this time the application will not be considered.”
She also said the right to appeal SASSA’s decisions is enshrined in the Constitution which promotes the right to just administrative action and makes provisions. “These include everyone’s right to administrative action that is lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair and everyone whose rights have been adversely affected by administrative action has the right to be given written reasons.”
