SASSA brings social services closer to the people

Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya is to unveil the technology-driven social grants outreach program, which is an initiative of SASSA to improve service delivery, on Thursday.

“There are hundreds of eligible people who do not access social grants because they live in remote rural areas and it is difficult for them to travel to town to apply,” said Skweyiya ahead of the launch.

SASSA is currently engaged in a program to target remote areas, for intensive grants registration and integrated service delivery with an aim to deepen the reach of government's poverty reduction programmes in rural and remote areas.

“Through our mobile trucks and the use of modern technology, we are now able to register them where they live.

“They are also able to hear the outcome of their applications in one day," said Skweyiya.

On the day the minister will be joined by his provincial counterpart MEC Meshack Hadebe.

MEC Hadebe said this initiative comes at an opportune moment as the people of Ngome had requested through their chief, the building of a one stop centre providing government services such as those of Home Affairs, Social Development and others.

“The day will ensure that we provide integrated services to people. We are sending out a message that no matter where you live, government services can and will come to you," said Hadebe.

The SASSA outreach program has also yielded results in the Eastern Cape where it began.

The agency deployed eight mobile vehicles in the Alfred Nzo municipality in the Eastern Cape for two weeks.

Integrated services that were provided by the various departments included:

• The Department of Social Development provided social workers and assisted with foster care and social relief of distress applications;
  
• The Department of Home Affairs assisted with identity documents, birth certificates and death certificates;
  
• The Education Department provided school extract reports;
  
• The Health Department issued road to health cards for children and provided medical doctors for disability and care dependency grant applications; and
  
• The South African Police Services provided certification of services and affidavits.

The Eastern Cape intervention resulted in approximately 3,000 beneficiaries receiving the Child Support Grant, old age grants and social relief of distress.

Out the beneficiaries, 1940 were children who were not receiving social assistance benefits in the past.

Article published courtesy of BuaNews