By KEDIBONE MOLAETSI
7 August 2025- The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) Chief Executive Officer, Themba Matlou has expressed satisfaction at the social grants review processes and the overall operations at SASSA local offices in North West. This comes as Matlou, joined by his executives, concluded his working visit to the province to assess and monitor operations at SASSA local offices whilst unlocking bottlenecks hindering seamless service provision to the beneficiaries.
He further visited Boxer, Shoprite retail stores and Ramotshere Local Office in Zeerust, where he monitored the August social grants payments and assessed the progress of the Beneficiary Biometric Enrolment Pilot. Matlou added that, on Wednesday, he proceeded to Mahikeng to engage staff members from various SASSA offices in the province on different issues.
“On Thursday, I concluded my visit to the province with a visit to Mahikeng Local Office, where I interacted and assisted social grant beneficiaries with challenges facing them.
“The visit bears testimony to the undertaking and commitment I made last month that the agency will leave no stone unturned in improving operations in local offices and ensure that the beneficiaries are not inconvenienced by the ongoing social grants reviews,” he said.
Matlou said a number of SASSA executives were dispatched to various offices across the country to offer a helping hand in local offices and ensure that the August payment cycle runs smoothly. He said in his visit to North West, he did not pick up any serious issues and their beneficiaries received their grants without any hindrances.
“Our staff has been on top of their game, including the merchants. We are satisfied by what we found and we seem to have overcome the teething problems that we experienced in the last few months.
“In addition, the few beneficiaries that did not receive their grants came to the offices for review and they were assisted speedily, stating that SASSA systems are gradually improving,” said Matlou.
He said importantly, out of 1200 beneficiaries flagged in Mahikeng, a total of 700 beneficiaries headed the call and visited the local offices to review their grants, signaling a positive sign that people are starting to see the importance of the process. Matlou said out of the 700 people who came for reviews in Mahikeng, they found that 69 people are working and no longer qualify to receive a grant.
“This is a significant number that has burdened our system and we are happy that progress is being made. We are starting to find the culprits through our functioning systems and the dedication shown by our staff members at local offices.
“In conclusion, I call on the public, especially SASSA beneficiaries, to remain calm as the agency navigates through this important review process in its efforts to root out fraudulent elements in the system whilst ensuring that the right grant is paid to the eligible beneficiaries, thus saving the public purse from manipulation,” he said.
The Guardian 