WATCH | Social grants but no social distancing
 as thousands queue to collect payments

Chaos as thousands of Eastern Cape SASSA recipients queue for grant payments​. Footage: Lulamile Feni Production and editing: Graham Timms

Swarms of people queued at Eastern Cape Sassa pay points on Wednesday.

Thousands flocked to Mqanduli, near Mthatha, desperate to collect their much-needed social grant payments, even risking Covid-19 infection to do so.

Social distancing of any kind was impossible in the crush of people filling passageways and lining the streets.

Some people arrived as early as 3am  to to be at the front of the seemingly endless queues, exacerbated by the national coronavirus lockdown.


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