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MONEY which is supposed to make the lives of pensioners easier became the cause of pain and long waits on the day pensions had to be collected at the Grassy Park Civic Centre.

A queue going as far back as around the corner of the block was the scene at the centre on Wednesday, 8 November. Tired and frustrated pensioners were not impressed with the long wait which was caused by faults in the payout system's equipment.

All Pay Western Cape is contracted by the South African Social Security Agency to make pension payouts in the province. Local All Pay operating manager Andries de Jongh said the delay at Grassy Park came as a result of new notes which were causing the payout machine to jam.

"It seems every time new money is used, it gets stuck in the machine causing it to break down," he said, adding that he had taken the matter up with the necessary people and passed instructions that new money should be avoided.

This did not mollify some of the elderly people who came to collect their pension on the day, who said they are unhappy with the service.

Mary Roode (82), from Grassy Park, said the delay caused by the faulty machinery was an ongoing occurrence.

"This is ongoing. We do understand that we need to have patience, but some of us have been standing in the queue for four hours already."

Denise Hartnick (48), from Parkwood said to her knowledge the slow payout was a monthly occurrence.

"There is always a problem with the machines. They need to realise that there are old people standing in the line."

Spencer Manuel, who waited for his mother for four hours, agreed that the situation is a monthly occurrence.

"It is really ridiculous that they let old people stand in the sun. They need to sort out a way to maintain the machines that they use."

But De Jongh said that machines are maintained and the complications arise when new money is used.

"When we do find problems occurring we have people to address the situation."

All Pay managed to transfer three extra machines to the civic centre to ease the situation and help the existing three machines which were being used.

But the main concern from the elderly was that the wait became uncomfortable for them.

Councillor Basil Lee of ward 67 says he is aware that people were standing outside without chairs to sit on. Seating is only available for the old people once they are inside the civic centre.

Henry Holloway, contract and vendor manager for the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) says if there is a delay, chairs should be taken outside for the elderly to sit on.

He adds, however, "There has been a major improvement compared to the way things used to be when the elderly collected their pension at post offices. Then they had to stand because no provision was made for seating."

Lee says he will request that a sister from the nearby clinic is put on duty at the Grassy Park Civic centre on pension days.

De Jongh assures the community of Grassy Park especially the elderly that next month the procedure will be smoother.

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