R350 grant: Applicants robbed outside Verulam post office

Drug users are robbing and intimidating R350 COVID-19 Relief Grant applicants in Verulam, KwaZulu-Natal, a private security company Reaction Unit South Africa (RUSA) reported on Friday,30 April.

The company shared on its Facebook page that it has received an overwhelming thirteen complaints of robbery by drug users on Wick Street – Verulam within a week.

R350 GRANT RECIPIENTS ROBBED OF THEIR MONEY

The private security company said that the complainants in all the thirteen cases were robbed near the Verulam Post Office while waiting in line to collect the R350 COVID-19 Relief Grant.

“In some cases the complainants were held at knife point and robbed of cash as they left the Post Office. Other victims were charged R100 for being pushed to the front of the queue & two victims have reported being extorted for a percentage of monies collected.

“Those that complained were intimidated by a group of five male drug users. According to information received, at least two victims were stabbed by these suspects. This has not being confirmed. The perpetrators usually flee prior to Reaction Officers arriving on scene.”

WILL THE SRD GRANT COME TO AN END?

This week, Social Development Minister, Lindiwe Zulu reported that she has formally requested an extension for the SRD grant. It would be the third time that the SRD handout has been extended past its deadline since coming into force one year ago.

The R350 grant is a likely precursor to a ‘Basic Income Grant’ – which would guarantee every citizen in South Africa some form of financial support from the government.

On Friday, dozens of people gathered outside SASSA offices in Bellville, Cape Town, on Friday to voice desperate calls for the Social Securities Agency to extend the payment deadline past today’s expiration date. 

In a statement released late on Thursday night, SASSA said that they would no longer be accepting applications for the special COVID-19 relief grant for the unemployed, with the SRD payments only to be paid out to those who have already had their applications approved. 

READ: SASSA payment dates for May 2021: R350 grant ‘set to expire’