{"id":114633,"date":"2020-03-31T09:22:05","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T07:22:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mobserver.co.za\/?p=114633"},"modified":"2020-03-31T09:22:05","modified_gmt":"2020-03-31T07:22:05","slug":"elderly-disabled-flock-sassa-pay-points","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/news-headlines\/2020\/03\/31\/elderly-disabled-flock-sassa-pay-points\/","title":{"rendered":"Elderly and the disabled flock to SASSA pay points"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Monday hundreds of elderly persons queued at the Post Office to collect their grants, many were in the queue from 06:00.<\/p>\n<p>The government said that it had taken the necessary measures to reduce congestion and ensure that there would be social distancing protocols at pay points, however, when the <strong>www.mobserver.co.za<\/strong> visited the Post Office many residents were not practicing social distancing.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_114635\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-114635\" style=\"width: 520px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-114635\" src=\"https:\/\/mobserver.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2020\/03\/post-2-Copy-520x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"520\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dwu32cgxelq1c.cloudfront.net\/local_newspapers\/sites\/92\/2020\/03\/post-2-Copy-520x400.jpg 520w, https:\/\/dwu32cgxelq1c.cloudfront.net\/local_newspapers\/sites\/92\/2020\/03\/post-2-Copy-300x231.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 520px) 100vw, 520px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-114635\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The elderly stood in long queues to get their social grant from the Post Office in the CBD.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The elderly and disabled SASSA beneficiaries will receive their social grants over the next two days, while other grants, including child support, will be collected from 1 April.<\/p>\n<p>People in need of the pharmacies and banks across town had snake-like queues.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-114634\" src=\"https:\/\/mobserver.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2020\/03\/post-1-Copy-520x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"520\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dwu32cgxelq1c.cloudfront.net\/local_newspapers\/sites\/92\/2020\/03\/post-1-Copy-520x400.jpg 520w, https:\/\/dwu32cgxelq1c.cloudfront.net\/local_newspapers\/sites\/92\/2020\/03\/post-1-Copy-300x231.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 520px) 100vw, 520px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the Mhluzi Police were monitoring queues at the eMhluzi Mall for those purchasing groceries.<\/p>\n<p>The Iraq Taxi Rank, which is usually busy, was eerily quiet in the morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The elderly and disabled flocked to various South African Social Security Agency pay points this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8164,"featured_media":114636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"hasGravity":false,"cxt_article_byline":"Tiisetso Malunga","cxt_disable_google_ads":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2],"tags":[24099,10010,24100,12898,24097,24096,24095,24098,10333],"class_list":["post-114633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news-headlines","tag-elderly-and-disabled-queue-for-grants","tag-local-news","tag-long-queues-for-social-grants-amid-national-lockdown","tag-middelburg-news","tag-no-social-distancing-in-sassa-queues","tag-sassa-beneficiaries-queue-for-grants","tag-sassa-grants","tag-sassa-grants-available-during-lockdown","tag-trusted-news"],"category_labels":{"Category":"News","SubCategory":"Local news"},"tag_labels":["elderly and disabled queue for grants","local news","long queues for social grants amid national lockdown","middelburg news","no social distancing in sassa queues","sassa beneficiaries queue for grants","sassa grants","sassa grants available during lockdown","trusted 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