All South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) offices across the Western Cape will now work overtime and on the weekends to address the disability grant crisis, agency spokesperson Shivani Wahab said.
Grant seekers have been struggling for weeks, after their temporary disability grant came to a grinding halt.
The City’s offices have been inundated with calls from those seeking help, as several offices remained closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The majority of the country’s affected beneficiaries, around 52 000, are in the province.
Recently, local government pressure in Atlantis saw officials agree to extending their hours.
Wahab says a request for staff overtime payment was approved.
“In an effort to accelerate service delivery, all Sassa offices in the province will be operational from Monday to Saturday, and working hours have been extended due to the high demand for services in respect of lapsed disability grants.”
Local community leader Nico Waggenstroom said Sassa workers’ claims for overtime had been approved, but the Sassa Workers’ Union refused to work extended hours.
“This means applications for grants could not be fast-tracked,” he said.
According to Waggenstroom, while one shift at the local Atlantis office is helping the community by working overtime to help residents who are part of the backlog, another shift of workers are refusing to do so.
Local area manager for Sassa Frederick Biscombe said a meeting between Sassa and Union reps will take place soon to resolve these issues.
