More than 300 people queued outside the Lentegeur civic centre during the early morning hours of last Wednesday to swop their old South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) card for a new one.
The current Sassa cards will not be supported after Sunday September 30, with the South African Post Office due to take over grant payments from Cash Paymaster Services by then.
Grant recipients who receive their grants via their bank accounts will not be affected.
“I have been waiting in line since 5am and I came all the way from Portland. My friend found out and told me about today,” said a senior who did not want to be named.
Sampie April, 65, from Woodlands said: “I came today because the post office told me I could change my card here for a new one today.
“I then told my wife about it whom I brought with, to change her card too.
“I was in the hall yesterday, Tuesday June 12. We waited all day to be helped, only to be assisted the following day.
“It wasn’t nice having to stand in a long line, to be assisted the next day.
“I only found out through my senior’s club at church and he informed each other there.”
Ward 76 councillor Goawa Timm said she had arranged the card collection for the sick and the aged in her ward
“I decided to do this to help the elderly people in my area. They cannot always walk to the venues far from them.”
However, she added: “People from all over Mitchell’s Plain ended up at the venue today – Woodlands, Portland, Beacon Valley, Westridge and Eastridge. The relevant councillors of the respective wards will have their own gathering with Sassa too.”
Nolubabo Jokozela, manager of Sassa’s Mitchell’s Plain branch, said on Tuesday June 12 they had helped more than 347 people swop their Sassa cards and had also attended to queries.
Beneficiaries can swop their old Sassa cards for new ones at Portland Indoor Centre on Thursday and Friday August 2 and 3, from 7.30am to 4pm.
Mitchell’s Plain’s Sassa offices will also be open on Saturdays and Sundays from 8am to 1pm until September 30.
Between June and July, priority will be given to elderly, frail, sick, disabled and bed-ridden.
While Sassa will be doing home visits for the elderly, dates have not been confirmed yet.
All pay points in Mitchell’s Plain are in the process of being closed, after which recipients will have to refer queries to the local or Cape Town Sassa branches.
Beneficiaries are encouraged to swop their old card with new cards or open a bank account into which their grant can be paid.
For more information, you can contact Sassa at 021 377 4200.