It’s been four months since Arthur Begg started his battle to get his mother’s outstanding grant money, and he says the struggle continues with no end in sight.
Mr Begg, from Rugby, has been struggling to get R5 100 in grant payments out of the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) for the past three months after he lost his mother’s SASSA card in June (“Begging for help”, Tabletalk, September 26).
Mr Begg takes care of his mother, Hester Begg, 84, who has Alzheimer’s disease. He had approached Sassa for help but was told Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) was responsible for settling the account.
He had emailed and phoned CPS many times, he said, but it had all been in vain.
Then, on Thursday October 5, a CPS consultant had told him the money would be in his post office bank account within 48 hours. The following Monday he had been told to wait another 48 hours.
“They told me the funds have gone through, but it does not reflect in my account. I am in and out of the post office to check if the money is there,” said Mr Begg.
The CPS consultant had followed up with him regularly and he appreciated that but felt it still did not excuse CPS’s failure to cough up the money. He said the latest hurdle he had to deal with was CPS’s request for a printed bank statement and he had had to go to the Montague Gardens post office for that because his post office in Milnerton had been unable to give him one.
“I am doing all this running around. In the meantime, my mother had a nasty fall and ended up in hospital for few days. She is back at home now and cannot be left alone. She also started using adult diapers, which cost a lot, and I just can’t seem to get the money from CPS,” he said.
CPS spokesman Gomotsegang Motswatswe said the transfer request had been processed on Monday October 8 and she sent Tabletalk a screenshot of Ms Begg’s account reflecting the outstanding money.
“The agent has been in constant contact with Mr Begg, and she requested that he send a recent bank statement to show that the transfer has not taken place and to check if the correct account number was used for the transfer request.
“Mr Begg constantly advises that the post office doesn’t want to assist him with the latest bank statement.
“We called the local post office in Mr Begg’s area on his behalf and they advised that they will be happy to help Mr Begg or any other client with a bank statement request,” said Mr Motswatswe.
But Mr Begg said the post office had not been able to help him with a bank statement.
“They told me at the post office that my funds are depleted. There is no money in my account. I am now leaving it in their hands. They told me they will sort it out with CPS,” said Mr Begg.