By: Natasha Archary

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will lodge an urgent complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), against Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu, the Department of Social Development as well as SASSA, and the Postbank for their part in the ongoing social grant payment failures.
On Tuesday, 19 September, the DA will take legal action, with Shadow Minister of Social Development, Bridget Masango, laying an urgent complaint at the SAHRC in Johannesburg.
According to the DA, not only is the Minister continuing to fail millions of vulnerable grant beneficiaries each month, but her Department has also returned more than R15 billion to the National Treasury in unpaid Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grants.
Additionally, the DA says there are still grant beneficiaries who are struggling to gain access to these funds.
On Friday,15 September, SASSA apologized to grant beneficiaries for delays in the payouts of grants due to a “technical glitch”, which was reportedly on the Postbank’s side.
Thousands of pensioners were left empty-handed, on 05 September, when a technical glitch meant payments were not made.
“These ongoing failures have resulted in an alarming human rights violation, with mothers being compelled to abandon their babies due to their inability to feed them, creating a tragic and heartbreaking situation.
Thousands of Gauteng’s most vulnerable residents, solely dependent on social grants are going hungry due to delays in SASSA payments.
The elderly used their money to travel to the SASSA pay points, and others took loans only to be told there was no money available.
This is unacceptable because delays in paying social grants are putting a financial strain on the most vulnerable people in Gauteng.”
On Friday, the entire board of Postbank has tendered their resignations to Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Mondli Gungubele over a questionable R140 million software contract.
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