The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) is seen as a lifeline for many households.
These social grants are used to help families put food on the table.
However, we must admit that in other cases, these funds are received by undeserving people – they appear as pocket money, hair salon funds and funds for a night in a tavern or club.
Before that, my friends and I stood in a long line at the grocery store.
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We were delighted to find another queue of only four people. While waiting, the shop assistant informed me that the queue was only for Sassa withdrawals.
What comes to mind about the short queue are the wonderful hairstyles and clothes that people have found.
Not to say that if you get a social grant, you have to be sloppy, but do some recipients really deserve as much as they pretend?
I know at least three people who are working but are still getting funds for their children. I also know people who get child support for a child who doesn’t live with them.
For working people, the grant seems insignificant.
But consider how many people accept and how many mothers leave their cards with the moneylenders, along with their identity documents.
Currently, there are about 29 million recipients, but how many deserve the funds and how many are just abusing the system that aims to help the poor?
However, one fact is that the welfare system is overloaded with people who do not deserve to be recipients of social assistance.
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Even if there are people who need help, they can’t access it.
Children under the age of 14 are often heard yelling at their parents that they want “their” money because, ultimately, the child’s money is meant for them.
There is a dependency problem that rears its ugly head and seems to grow every year.
We allow the system to be abused by people who feel entitled to help they don’t deserve.
After the budget speech, we can only guess how much more economy will be done and what lifeline will be given to the recipients.