The first day of receiving social grants in the Eastern Cape has been dominated by fears of spreading the coronavirus. Thousands of elderly people and people with disabilities have gathered at various pay-points to receive their grants.
Long queues are the order of the day. However, social distancing has proven to be difficult at grant pay-points.
Some arrived around 1am. Coming from different rural areas around Mthatha, They say they haven’t had food and they have been begging government to address this. #sabcnews #Day4 #Covid19inSA pic.twitter.com/86mEO99Ees
— Lwandile_Mbulali (@MbulaliKillaman) March 30, 2020
Provincial government has appealed to South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) beneficiaries to obey the lockdown rules set to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Social Development has deployed Senior Sassa officials to pay points to monitor compliance.
Eastern Cape has close to two million Sassa beneficiaries. The grant plays an immeasurable role in the province to escape the burden of poverty.
In Mthatha, early birds took their places at the Post Office from as early as 1 o’clock in the morning.
Many have expressed happiness about arrangements made for the day, and are hoping this can be done in the future.
“I arrived at one. I wanted to be number one. I am happy that I am here. I will grab my cash and go home early. Yes, indeed, we want to be the first on the queue because there is this coronavirus.”
Government has made special arrangements for public transport to ferry people.
In the video below, Journalist Lwandile Mbulali reports that scores of Mthata residents queued to receive their social grants:
Taxis will run from 5 o’ clock in the morning to 8 in the evening to accommodate social grant recipients until Friday.
However, the taxi industry says they are still running at a loss as they were not informed of any relief for this industry.
Some say they now have fewer passengers in their vehicles, due to social distancing.
“No, it’s a loss this thing, because at the end of the day, the owners are suffering,” says one of the taxi operators.
Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane, accompanied by the Social Development MEC, Siphokazi Mani-Lusithi spent their morning monitoring social grant pay-points in the Buffalo City Metro.
Mani-Lusithi has urged Sassa beneficiaries to comply.
“There are large numbers of queues because even though you have two days for older people, all of them will want to come on the first day. Understandably so, because most of them are running away from hunger from their homes.”
To date, the province has recorded 12 coronavirus cases. It has since closed its borders as one of the measures to contain the spread of the virus.
#SABCNews Fast Fact of the Day l #COVID-19 enters the body through the eyes, nose and mouth.
Visit https://t.co/TS6YUmN424 for the latest news on the #CoronavirusPandemic.#CoronavirusInSA #CoronavirusUpdate #coronavirus #FactOfTheDay pic.twitter.com/7QlXJHjhMi
— SABC News (@SABCNews) March 30, 2020
