When the Dispatch caught up with her early yesterday she was queuing at the post office, but by yesterday afternoon she was back at the Sassa office as the post office told her the funds were not in her account.
“They told me there is R4 yet I have drawn no money.
“I took a loan for a funeral, I can’t take another loan for food. The person who loaned me is expecting the first payment.”
A distraught Saki added: “This is the first time I have taken a loan. It is degrading. This is the time when everybody needs money. I need to buy food for my daughter and grandchild. I do not know how we are going to survive this month.”
Zintle Qanata, queuing at Sassa in East London CBD, said. “I woke up on Sunday thinking I would be doing our groceries. I had to borrow R200 to last us while we sort this out, but it is not enough.”
A manager at a registered loan shop affiliated to a bank, who did not want to be named, said victims of the glitch were going to unregistered places where it was easier to raise loans. “We have not seen a dramatic increase in people coming in but people are taking loans. They are desperate. What worries me most is that at the unregistered loan shops they lose their identity documents.”
Jaco Booysens of East Cape Loans said: “The only people with problems are those with post bank cards, and we do not do loans on post bank cards because we cannot do deductions on those cards.
“The only people we can help are people who have their money paid into a bank account.”
Sassa misery enters day 6 for some
Most people have received their money
Image: FILE
Desperation is driving Sassa glitch victims to borrow from unregistered loan sharks while the grant distribution agency tries to sort out its problems.
Thousands have still not received their monthly pensions, due six days ago today.
Speaking to the Dispatch yesterday, Sassa provincial spokesperson Luzuku Qina said most beneficiaries had been paid.
“The few left should go to the nearest post office,” he said.
But Buyiswa Saki from Duncan Village said she had been sent from pillar to post for five days. She saw her R1 600 grant reflecting in her Sassa account on Sunday, the first day of the month, but all attempts to draw funds failed.
When the Dispatch caught up with her early yesterday she was queuing at the post office, but by yesterday afternoon she was back at the Sassa office as the post office told her the funds were not in her account.
“They told me there is R4 yet I have drawn no money.
“I took a loan for a funeral, I can’t take another loan for food. The person who loaned me is expecting the first payment.”
A distraught Saki added: “This is the first time I have taken a loan. It is degrading. This is the time when everybody needs money. I need to buy food for my daughter and grandchild. I do not know how we are going to survive this month.”
Zintle Qanata, queuing at Sassa in East London CBD, said. “I woke up on Sunday thinking I would be doing our groceries. I had to borrow R200 to last us while we sort this out, but it is not enough.”
A manager at a registered loan shop affiliated to a bank, who did not want to be named, said victims of the glitch were going to unregistered places where it was easier to raise loans. “We have not seen a dramatic increase in people coming in but people are taking loans. They are desperate. What worries me most is that at the unregistered loan shops they lose their identity documents.”
Jaco Booysens of East Cape Loans said: “The only people with problems are those with post bank cards, and we do not do loans on post bank cards because we cannot do deductions on those cards.
“The only people we can help are people who have their money paid into a bank account.”
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