The SA Social Services Agency managed to help only 30 people after hundreds queued overnight for food vouchers.
|||Cape Town -
The SA Social Services Agency (Sassa) managed to help only 30 people on Monday after hundreds had queued overnight for food vouchers.
Hundreds of people from Dunoon, Bo-Kaap and Joe Slovo in Milnerton slept outside the Sassa offices in the hope of getting their hands on a R1 200 food voucher after word got around in their communities.
Several residents from Dunoon said they heard the news from someone who had driven around announcing it by loud hailer, but when Social Development MEC Albert Fritz met the head of Sassa, Waldie Terblanche, it emerged there had been no campaigns to promote or advertise the social relief of disaster grant.
“Rumours of free food voucher handouts seem to have spread through communities, resulting in people flocking to Sassa offices in mass numbers. Sassa will be containing the situation as best it can,” said Melany Kuhn, spokeswoman for Fritz.
She said Fritz had asked that Sassa make officials available to address the crowds in all three official languages of the province.
“A huge frustration yesterday was lack of communication and people not knowing whether they would be assisted. We stressed how vital it is the right message goes out,” Kuhn said.
yolisa.tswanya@inl.co.za
Cape Argus