Court ruling allows deductions on grant

A Pietermaritzburg resident whose social grant payment was suspended, along with thousands of others across KZN, welcomed the Tuesday’s court ruling, against the department.

This is after the Pretoria high court’s ruling, allowing debit orders to run on Sassa bank accounts, setting aside the department’s amendment, to the Social Assistance Act regulations, disallowing the deductions.

The resident, Thobeka Ndlovu, said she has not been getting grant money for her two kids since February, and that when she went to the Sassa offices in Pieter­maritzburg, she was told that the grants were stopped, because she had too many insurance premiums, being deducted from the Sassa account.

She said she was happy about the court ruling, as Sassa made her seem like an irresponsible parent, by taking out the insurance policies.

Ndlovu from Imbali, said the policies will help her kids, should she die.

A source within Sassa’s KZN offices, put the number of beneficiaries whose payments had been suspended, to about 10 000, across the province.