The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Friday described the settlement between the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) and life assurance company Lion of Africa on funeral policy deductions as “another positive step towards protecting the most vulnerable in our society”.
The agreement — made shortly before Thursday’s Constitutional Court hearing and made an order of the court — allows the agency to stop funeral policy deductions from three types of children’s grants.
They are: the child support grant‚ foster care grant and care dependency grant — the latter being awarded to caregivers or parents of disabled children.
“It is a shameful travesty of justice that the practice of making these deductions have been allowed to take place at all‚ from grants which are already way too small to survive on‚” said the DA’s Bridget Masango.
“In terms of the judgment‚ no new deductions will be taken from the three types of children’s grants until the new regulations to the Social Assistance Act‚ announced by Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini earlier this month‚ which forbid deductions from children’s grants‚ kick in.
“The DA has consistently fought against the ongoing problem of illegal deductions from social grants and will continue to do so.”
The agency‚ which pays out social grants‚ had been due to apply for leave to appeal against an interim order made by the high court in Pretoria in December.
The high court order had suspended a moratorium on all funeral policy deductions against children’s grants‚ pending the outcome of review proceedings by Lion of Africa.
The minister of social development had‚ through a regulation published in 2009‚ allowed funeral policy premiums to be deducted from social grants.
This meant adults in receipt of children’s grants qualified as beneficiaries.
However‚ in December last year‚ Sassa informed Lion of Africa‚ a company which had been servicing funeral policies with children’s grant deductions‚ that a moratorium on all funeral policy deductions against children’s grants would take effect from January this year.
Lion of Africa applied and obtained an interim order which suspended the moratorium.
In terms of the agreement reached between the parties‚ Lion of Africa agreed not to enforce the high court order.
The judgment means that there would be no new deductions from the three forms of children’s grants between January and May‚ when new regulations from the minister disallowing deductions from children’s grants take effect.
Deductions that were being made before the moratorium will continue until November‚ when funeral policy holders are required to make new payment arrangements independent of the children’s grants
Funeral policy deductions settlement a ‘step towards protecting society’s most vulnerable’
The agreement — made shortly before Thursday’s Constitutional Court hearing and made an order of the court — allows the agency to stop funeral policy deductions from three types of children’s grants.
They are: the child support grant‚ foster care grant and care dependency grant — the latter being awarded to caregivers or parents of disabled children.
“It is a shameful travesty of justice that the practice of making these deductions have been allowed to take place at all‚ from grants which are already way too small to survive on‚” said the DA’s Bridget Masango.
“In terms of the judgment‚ no new deductions will be taken from the three types of children’s grants until the new regulations to the Social Assistance Act‚ announced by Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini earlier this month‚ which forbid deductions from children’s grants‚ kick in.
“The DA has consistently fought against the ongoing problem of illegal deductions from social grants and will continue to do so.”
The agency‚ which pays out social grants‚ had been due to apply for leave to appeal against an interim order made by the high court in Pretoria in December.
The high court order had suspended a moratorium on all funeral policy deductions against children’s grants‚ pending the outcome of review proceedings by Lion of Africa.
The minister of social development had‚ through a regulation published in 2009‚ allowed funeral policy premiums to be deducted from social grants.
This meant adults in receipt of children’s grants qualified as beneficiaries.
However‚ in December last year‚ Sassa informed Lion of Africa‚ a company which had been servicing funeral policies with children’s grant deductions‚ that a moratorium on all funeral policy deductions against children’s grants would take effect from January this year.
Lion of Africa applied and obtained an interim order which suspended the moratorium.
In terms of the agreement reached between the parties‚ Lion of Africa agreed not to enforce the high court order.
The judgment means that there would be no new deductions from the three forms of children’s grants between January and May‚ when new regulations from the minister disallowing deductions from children’s grants take effect.
Deductions that were being made before the moratorium will continue until November‚ when funeral policy holders are required to make new payment arrangements independent of the children’s grants
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