Today, Front National SA (FASA) delivered a letter to Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan regarding their discoveries of how the poor people are not coping with a meager pension received from the government. FASA have listed a number of suggestions for Gordhan to consider, especially since welfare organizations administering the social grants appear to be “making a fortune out of the misfortune of the needy”.
Will Gordhan consider the recommendations of FASA? Read the letter and note the seriousness of the matter.
To:
The Minister of Finance
Mr. Pravin Gordhan
Parliament, Cape Town
Honourable Minister,
Dear Sir
SOCIAL GRANTS: PENSIONERS
Front National, a registered political party at the IEC, ran a comprehensive welfare outreach to the poor from more than 80 towns and cities during the festive period.
What we found among Sassa pensioners was appalling. The government grant of R1500 per month cannot even cover the most basic of needs.
We thus urge you to:
1. To at least double Sassa pensions to bring it in accordance with the lifelong contribution these people made to South Africa. Even then, it will not be even near the minimum wage your government is propagating.
2. To have a serious look at other social grants, especially for children born out of wedlock. We suggest a system where a single woman with an “illegitimate child” be granted a livable amount. For the second child the grant must be halved, and for the third child no grant whatsoever. South Africa simply cannot afford the present system where women with children out of wedlock are “paid” to continue their way endlessly without men taking responsibility for supporting their own children. We regard this as an undermining of the social fibre of our communities.
3. To make sure that welfare organizations and social security channel funds to the people in need by strictly adhering to audited statements where not more than 25% of contributions are used for operations and salaries. We found numerous instances where so-called welfare and social organizations are making a fortune out of the misfortune of the needy.
4. To reconsider the whole system of social grants for it is not financially viable to support millions of people with such a small tax base. The figures bandied about suggest that 5 million taxpayers are supporting as many as 12 million people on social grants. We’d also like you to supply us with the correct figures for the above.
5. To stop affirmative action and BEEE as we found thousands of skilled, educated people unable to get jobs. Not a single person under the age of 40 in South Africa can be held responsible for what your government regard as “Apartheid”. Demographically, even if every single white in South Africa loses his/her job to a black person it will not make a 1% change to the unemployment rate. What it will do, however, is another 1% emigration of skilled and experienced people to the western world.
6. To make public the annual statements of the official Lotto, plus appointing an independent body of people to control and scrutinize all pay-outs and winnings, for the vast majority of people we interviewed had no trust in Lotto dealings.
JD Lötter
Front National South Africa
South Africa Today – South Africa News
