After their plight was brought to the attention of SASSA and Social Development on social media, four children from Ngqeleni have received much-needed relief.
SASSA, together with the OR Tambo District Department of Social Development, visited the family on June 21 in an effort to assess their plight and bring about urgent relief to the children.
Four children, aged 13, nine, eight and four, recently lost their mother. The delegation immediately categorised them as a child-headed family.
Two of the four children’s father could not be traced, while the father of the other two cannot be identified.
The delegation found that the children used to stay with their maternal aunt but later removed themselves when she visited her husband in Johannesburg. It was also discovered that the children had no birth certificates and were very young to stay on their own without care and protection.
SASSA OR Tambo district manager, Nomfundiso Soldati, said the situation immediately prompted for the implementation of Regulation 11.1, where application for child social grant is considered while the necessary documentation is waited upon from the relevant department.
“We cannot wait for all documents to be available whilst there’s a regulation that allows us to urgently intervene in this situation. As a result of this, the child support grant for all four children will be paid in July,” said Soldati.
The delegation engaged their aunt who previously cared for them and she agreed to continue looking after them.
The two orphaned children will now receive a child support grant top-up, introduced to assist relatives caring for orphans to provide for their basic needs.
The children will receive their basic child support grant of R480, plus an additional amount of R240, bringing the total to R720.
Department of Social Development will start the process for foster care.
One child is not yet of school-going age. However, two of them had already received school uniforms from SASSA in March, while the other will receive a uniform in July, when schools are re-opened.
