‘I am worried about the elderly people who are here to collect their grants’

Tebogo Mekgwe (30) from Potoane, North West, takes a break from standing in a long queue to collect his 77-year-old mother’s social grant.

“It’s just the two of us and my mother is the only one with an income,” he says, sitting on one of the concrete benches at Renbro shopping outlet at the Jubilee mall in Hammaskraal.

“I’ve been here since nine in the morning and it’s almost two in the afternoon. I told her to sit in the car while I stand in the queue for her.

“She still has to buy groceries, pay accounts and societies once she gets the money,” he says.

Despite social grant payments happening under extraordinary conditions with precautionary hygiene measures implemented to limit the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus, the aim for most customers remains the same as any other month.

A 35-year-old mother of two from Temba in Tshwane, who prefers to be referred to as Dimakatso, can attest to this.

She wants to collect her children’s social grants to buy groceries and winter clothes.

“I’m here to buy food. I also wanted to buy my kids some winter clothes while it’s still early, but all the shops are closed so I guess I’ll have to wait until the lockdown is over.

“The lines at the grocery stores are also long. I am worried about the elderly people who are here to collect their grants,” she told City Press.

While some shops provide customers with chairs to rest while queuing, others wait outside until their turn arrives.

Customers at the mall have populated at two opposing ends – Spar and Game on one side and Pick n’ Pay on the other, with a hollow space of closed shops in between.

Usually filled with playful children while parents enjoy their shopping, the play area has stood empty since the implementation of the lockdown. Picture: Tebogo Letsie

According to the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa), “it is not necessary to go to crowded places or stand in long queues to access money.

“Once the grant has been deposited into the personal bank account or the Sassa card, it will remain there until it is needed. The cash pay points will commence with services from April 3.

“These will provide an opportunity to those beneficiaries who have not been able to get to towns and other centres where there is national payment infrastructure to be able to access their grants,” the agency said.

Jacqueline Visser, portfolio manager at Broll properties, the managing agents at the mall, said that while the payment of social grants may have contributed to the large number of customers at the mall, spending patterns also play a role.

“Sometimes people can’t buy in bulk, so they have to come back to buy more essential goods,” she said.

While measures such as providing customers with hand sanitiser had been put in place at all entry points, Visser urged those who can stay at home to do so.

“We regularly inspect the shops. We also remind and educate them to sanitise, but the main thing is encouraging them to stay at home and only come to the shops only when it’s necessary,” she told City Press.