Growing frustrations over the lack of a permanent South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) office in Verulam has left residents feeling dejected and neglected by the Department of Social Development after the local office was closed down in 2016, forcing thousands of people to either travel to Phoenix or Tongaat to get help.
For years, the elderly, people living with disability and parents with their children have been forced to travel and wait in long queues because they no longer had a SASSA office of their own. However, Ward 106 Councillor Johnson Chetty said a means to ease the burden has recently been found with a pop-up SASSA office at the Mountview Hall every Wednesday from 17 May to the end of November, for new applications.
He said the SASSA pop-up offices are a one day visit for now but can become a monthly event which is still under discussion. “The situation became untenable as SASSA offices in Phoenix was under renovation and with the influx of visitors, a lot of people were turned away and were forced to make several trips. Over the years, I have engaged with the managerial team of SASSA to open a satellite office in Verulam but this never materialised due to budget constraints,” said Cllr Chetty.
The ward 106 councillor said he had held a meeting with the senior management of SASSA recently and was thrilled that they will send their teams out to Mountview Hall every Wednesday. He said the intervention on 2 June is for the renewal of SASSA cards that have expired or will expire.
“It’s pleasing to note that eventually the government has faced the realisation that the people are struggling with financial hardship as the general state of the economy is bleak. However, the government cannot put a band aid on the wound and expect top results. What a caring government should do is find the budget and create a permanent office in Verulam,” said Cllr Chetty.
A resident of Mountview, Rogers Murigan said it has been extremely frustrating with the closure of Verulam SASSA office as it posed as a huge inconvenience to and his family.
He said: “Sometimes as residents we have to wonder what this government is actually up as to we are not being provided with the basic necessities that they should be giving us. The SASSA office was closed down which pushed many of us to use the Tongaat and Phoenix offices however, the queues were extremely long and we never get to sort out anything. I went three days in a row and due to either the offices being ‘offline’ or the line being too long, I was unable to sort out anything and this is ridiculous. I am hoping that with this pop-up office we, as residents, will be able to sort out our important documentation and apply for social grants.”
Murigan added that he hopes that this becomes a permanent solution and that pop-office is not suddenly ripped away from them.
“There have been instances whereby pop-up offices open and due to the long lines and numbers of people the employees go on a go-slow and make silly excuses just so that they don’t have to do their work. I am hoping that they also open up a Verulam SASSA office because we need it as a community and we are also entitled to it,” he said.
SASSA was contacted in regard to the pop-up office and a long term solution for the residents of Verulam, however, a response was not forthcoming at the time of print.
