Social development, women, children and people with disabilities MEC Mosetsanagape Mokomele-Mothibi said her department would provide social relief and groceries to the Du Plooy family after they lost their grandmother who died while trying to re-register for her old-age grant.

Tinny Du Plooy, 90, died on Tuesday while queuing for a social grant re-registration exercise in Choseng village last week.

Reports from Sassa indicate that one official noticed that something was wrong with Du Plooy and called her son. They checked on her and discovered that she had stopped breathing. Paramedics then certified the granny dead at the scene.

Mokomele-Mothibi said the department would continue to render bereavement counselling to the family during and after the funeral.

The MEC visited the Du Plooy family members at Choseng in Greater Taung local municipality on Thursday.

“As a department, we do not want to see things of this nature happening to our elderly citizens. We would be working with all stakeholders to make sure what befell granny Du Plooy does not happen again to other grant recipients, particularly our old people.”

The MEC urged family members looking after the elderly to make necessary arrangements with Sassa so that they can collect pension grants on behalf of elderly people and those with disabilities.

“All family members need to do is fill in proxy forms that would allow them to receive grants on behalf of their elderly people. We should avoid this situation where old people stand in lengthy queues to get services that can actually be done in a different way,” she said.

The deceased’s son Piet Du Plooy said this was made more painful after he struggled to gain entry into the premises when he heard news about his mother.

The deceased would be buried in Choseng village on Saturday.