ANC WELCOMES INCIDENT FREE PAYMENT OF SOCIAL GRANTS
The African National Congress (ANC) welcomes the incident free payment of social grants by the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) yesterday, 1 April 2017. By the close of the day yesterday, more than 6 million transactions valuing over R3 billion had been processed, giving much needed financial support to millions of our people. Meeting the deadline of 1st April 2017 has served to deal with the anxieties, restlessness and suspicions our people may have had on whether they would receive their grants on time. It further reaffirmed the ANC’s commitment to providing, uninterrupted, a social security net to alleviate poverty amongst the vulnerable in our society.
The Reconstruction and Development Program (RDP) asserted that apartheid contributed to the destruction of family and community life in various ways. The then racially-based, discriminatory social welfare services were piecemeal responses. Through the RDP we sought to transform the social welfare policies, programmes and delivery systems to ensure basic welfare rights are provided to all South Africans, prioritising those who have been historically disadvantaged. Provision of social grants has thus been an integral part of the minimum program of the ANC since the dawn of democracy, forming part of a comprehensive social service package – redistributive, equitable and non-discriminatory with particular focus on children and the elderly.
The provision of social grants therefore still remains a crucial component of our abiding commitment to provide social security to the poorest of the poor in our society. The focus of the ANC led government now, as directed by the National Executive Committee, must be on accelerating the insourcing of the payment of social grants as a critical service. Further, the building of the requisite capacity in the state machinery to deliver on this imperative.
