‘Treated Like Animals’: Elderly South Africans Speak Out on Sassa’s Failing System

Across South Africa, pensioners, the very people who built this nation are being reduced to tears and exhaustion by a system meant to care for them. From Durban’s townships to the Phoenix office in KwaZulu-Natal, stories of humiliation, neglect, and endless waiting paint a heartbreaking picture of what life has become for the country’s most vulnerable citizens.

The Long Wait for Dignity

For one Durban daughter, the struggle began when she tried to help her 82-year-old mother apply for a modest grant-in-aid, just R500 more per month to pay for a caregiver. What should have been a quick process stretched into three separate visits over two weeks.

Each trip meant waking up before dawn, battling taxi queues, and spending hours in cramped Sassa offices. On their first visit, despite being labelled an “emergency case,” they waited from 7am to 3pm before being helped.

The second visit brought more confusion: arriving after lunch to avoid crowds was met with scolding. “You should have been here in the morning,” one staff member barked, even though the morning’s applicants were still sitting in line by mid-afternoon.

In one shocking moment, an elderly woman carrying an oxygen tank was left unattended for hours because staff thought her breathing difficulty was a reason to postpone her appointment. No one checked on her. As she was wheeled out, she cried out, “You people know nothing about Batho Pele!” a bitter reference to the government’s “People First” service philosophy.

Broken Systems and Barriers

The physical environment is just as punishing. Many offices are not disability-friendly, narrow doors, steep ramps, and tight waiting spaces make it nearly impossible for wheelchair users to move around safely.

“The ramp doesn’t even fit the wheelchair,” the daughter said. “We had to lift my mother’s chair off the ground to get inside.”

Inside, the inefficiencies pile up. Staff stroll between desks, computers crash, and queues stall for hours. On one day, pensioners who had been waiting since morning were told to leave because an official “had an important meeting at 1pm.”

By the time her mother’s grant was finally approved, the daughter said, “All we could do was smile. We were too tired to even feel happy.”

Voices from Phoenix: Six Visits, No Help

At the Phoenix Sassa office, frustration runs even deeper. One pensioner, under review because his son sends him small monthly deposits to help with bills, said he’s visited the office six times with no resolution.

“Every time there’s an excuse,” he said. “No water. Fumigation. Or they close early. I arrive at 6am and leave at 4pm with nothing. The staff sit on their phones. They don’t care.”

He said he feels punished for receiving help from family, a gesture now being treated as income. “They’re quick to pay us late but slow to fix their mistakes,” he said.

‘We Are Old, Sick, and Treated Badly’

Another man applying for his old-age pension described a similar ordeal. “They keep changing what documents they need,” he said. “I’ve been coming for a month. Six hours at a time. No food. No water. The five-litre water bottle they have is old, and they don’t even give us cups.”

He paused before adding quietly, “They treat us like animals.”

For many elderly citizens, each trip costs up to R65 in taxi fare, money they can’t afford to lose. Some even faint from hunger or medical conditions while waiting in line.

A woman suffering from heart disease and kidney failure said her hospital letter was rejected simply because it listed her medication. Now she must wait until February for a new one. “They don’t even look at us properly,” she said. “We are old, sick, and desperate. We just want what’s fair.”

A System in Desperate Need of Reform

These accounts echo a wider pattern of neglect that social media users have been highlighting for months. On Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), South Africans have expressed outrage at the conditions pensioners face, demanding accountability and improved service delivery.

One user wrote, “How can we talk about Batho Pele when our elders are treated worse than livestock? They deserve respect.”

The stories raise hard questions about Sassa’s management, accountability, and infrastructure. Many citizens believe that merging Sassa offices with Home Affairs branches could ease transport costs and streamline services. Others are calling for random supervisory visits and better staff training to restore compassion to the system.

The Human Cost

While government officials often speak of “digital transformation” and “service delivery improvements,” the reality on the ground tells a different story, one of broken chairs, broken systems, and broken spirits.

For South Africa’s elderly, the journey to claim their rightful pension is no longer about money. It’s about dignity, a dignity they feel is being stripped away, one queue at a time.

{Source: IOL}

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