Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema says pensioners receiving SASSA grants should not have to pay for basic municipal services such as water and electricity.
Speaking at the EFF’s KwaZulu-Natal manifesto rally at Riverview Sports Field in Kokstad on Saturday, Malema said elderly people who had worked and contributed throughout their lives should be exempt from paying for essential services in their later years.
The comments come as the EFF steps up its campaign ahead of the November 4 local government elections, with the party’s manifesto placing basic service delivery, unemployment and municipal governance among its key priorities.
Social support ‘linked to corruption’
“For Abogogo (grandmothers/elderly people), amanzi (water) and electricity, all the beneficiaries of SASSA must not pay for water and electricity, because Abogogo, they’ve worked so hard. They cannot continue to pay even when they are old. They’ve been paying when they were young; they must still pay even now.
“You give them SASSA and say, ‘Abugogo (grandmothers/elderly people), they are poor, let’s give them SASSA.’ But during the time of paying for water and electricity, you say they are rich, they must pay. That is absolute nonsense which must be stopped.”
Malema said the exemption should be implemented by linking SASSA beneficiary information with municipal records, allowing qualifying residents to be identified without having to repeatedly prove their financial circumstances.
Under an EFF-led government, the party would approach SASSA for beneficiary data and integrate it with municipal records to automatically exclude recipients from paying for water and electricity.
Malema argued that elderly people should not be required to demonstrate their poverty to access basic municipal services when the state already has information showing that they qualify for social assistance.
He also called for an increase in social grants, saying elderly people and children should receive more financial support.
“If we stop corruption, we’ll get this money. If we stop wasteful expenditure, we’ll get this money,” he said.
IOL
Get your news on the go. Download the latest IOL App for Android and IOS now
