In reply to a Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary question, the Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu revealed that nearly 20 000 new and renewed South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) disability grant beneficiaries are currently on waiting lists to see an assessment doctor nationally.
The backlogs in assessments of disability grant cases have been a historic issue within the social grants system, primarily brought on by the shortage of doctors who are contracted by SASSA to do these assessments.
The Minister in her response to the DA admitted that these numbers “have been exacerbated as a result of the lockdown and closure of SASSA Local Offices under level 5; as well as the limited resources at local offices during levels 4 and 3”.
(Please see here)
The DA would like to remind the Minister that the reason why these SASSA offices were closed and understaffed was because she refused to open them after repeated calls from the DA. Minister Zulu must therefore take full personal responsibility for making an already bad situation even worse due to her arrogance.
The temporary disability grants are quickly coming to the end in October after the six-month grace period implemented as result of the national lockdown and applicants will soon find that their grants have lapsed and their only source of income halted.
Furthermore, the assessment doctors report is only valid for a period of three months, by which SASSA is meant to have processed the application. It has been reported that as a result of SASSA offices being closed during level 5 and 4 of national lockdown many of these assessment reports have lapsed adding to the overburdened system.
Thousands of desperate and vulnerable South Africans have now been left in limbo as they wait to be assessed in order to access these grants for their survival
The DA reiterates our calls for the Department of Social Development (DSD) to urgently increase its efforts to recruit more medical doctors to assess social grant applicants for disability grants. This will ensure that the number of applicants that need to do assessments does not overwhelm the SASSA-contracted doctors.
It cannot be that in the Western Cape, where there is a backlog of 4 945 assessments, the DSD has only allocated 10 doctors. Similarly, the North West where there is a backlog of 4574, there are only 28 doctors.
The total number of doctors contracted directly by SASSA is 475 nationally. The number per province is indicated below:
| Region | Contracted doctors |
| Eastern Cape | 28 |
| Free State | 44 |
| Gauteng | 52 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 134 |
| Limpopo | 72 |
| Mpumalanga | 27 |
| Northern Cape | 80 |
| North West | 28 |
| Western Cape | 10 |
| Total | 475 |
DSD must assist doctors that are interested in assisting with SASSA medical assessments to be speedily registered as required on Government’s Central Supplier Database without unnecessary hindrances. Deviations to procure services from doctors registered on the HPCSA database must be extended to the North West, which has recently been granted in the Western Cape.
To many people with disabilities, these grants are vital to their very survival. It’s their means to procure food for themselves and their families. The Minister must act now to address this backlog, so that those under her care will not suffer needlessly