DA in WC to report Minister Lindiwe Zulu to the SAHRC

8 September 2023

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Western Cape will be reporting the National Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) for negligently failing to ensure the socio-economic rights of Western Cape SASSA grant beneficiaries, by failing to provide social security.

The DA in the Western Cape has been inundated by complaints from desperate grant beneficiaries all across the province, who are struggling to withdraw their funds from ATMs and retailers due to technical glitches from Postbank.

The glitches affect beneficiaries with SASSA gold cards; however, the Postbank has indicated SASSA gold card holders, that they can still access their grant via the South African Post Offices (SAPO).

The problem, however, is that many SAPO branches have closed down across the Western Cape, leaving the few open SAPO branches overwhelmed and forcing beneficiaries to travel long distances to their nearest SAPO branches.

MPP Wendy Kaizer-Philander says: “While the Western Cape Government is constantly trying to alleviate social and economic pressures on our residents, efforts always remain hampered by the incompetence at the National Government level.

The Democratic Alliance in the Western Cape will take this issue head-on until Minister Zulu is held accountable for failing the residents of the Western Cape.”

Issued by Wendy Kaizer-Philander, DA Chief Whip in Western Cape Provincial Parliament, 8 September 2023