South Africa: Government Remains Silent On Non-Payment of Grants While Millions Face Hunger

Adrian Kriesch / Deutsche Welle
A social grants queue in South Africa.
9 June 2022
Daily Maverick (Johannesburg)
analysis By Zukiswa Pikoli

Civil society organisations this week raised the alarm about the Department of Social Development and the SA Social Security Agency not paying Social Relief of Distress Grants to millions of poor South Africans for two months, April and May.

'No one got paid. People are stranded, people are still waiting, people keep asking each other, 'When are we going to get paid?' [The Moya app] says the status is still pending. People are stranded and complaining, they're losing hope [that] they're going to be paid," said Tshabalira Lebakeng, a Soweto resident and member of the Homeless Writers' Project.

Civil society organisations on Wednesday raised the alarm about the Department of Social Development (DSD) and the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) not paying Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grants to millions of poor South Africans for the months of April and May.

"This is a scandal and a national disgrace. While there had been problems prior to April, over 10 million beneficiaries were being paid on a monthly basis... now... the poorest South Africans have been thrown into a catastrophic situation," reads a statement from the organisations.

In his State of the Nation Address (Sona) in February, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced...

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