Public Protector acknowledges ActionSA complaint against Post Office and SASSA

20 April 2023

On the 17 of April the Public Protector acknowledged ActionSA’s complaint against the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and the South African Post Office (SAPO). This is not only the genesis of an important investigation process, but it also a systematic resuscitation of accountability in our country and we are optimistic that the Public Protector will get back to us confirming an investigation within the next week.

Empowered by The Public Protector Act 23 of 1994, Section 6(5), the Public Protector will investigate the subversion of the rights of qualifying grant recipients by the SASSA, the primary administrator and, by extension, the South African Post Office as the contracted secondary administrator.

Notwithstanding the financial woes of its secondary administration partner, the South African Post Office, SASSA is bound by its mandate to be the primary distributor of social grants to have necessary alternative distribution platforms in place in case the Post Office fails in its contractual obligations to pay social grants.

Social grant recipients, especially in rural areas, travel long distances, at significant cost and personal inconvenience to collect their grants. Many risk their lives by embarking on pre-dawn long walks so that they can secure a spot in the queue ahead of others. For most of them the cost cannot be incurred and endured more than once. The risk of returning home empty-handed to households that are in desperate and collective need of these social grants is unthinkable.

Therefore, ActionSA looks forward to a finding that will not only protect the rights of social grant recipients all over the country, but will also alleviate the inconvenience and indignity of collecting social grants.

Issued by Athol Trollip, ActionSA Eastern Cape Provincial Chairperson, 20 April 2023