WATCH: Grant applicants queue from 4am, but leave Umlazi SASSA office without help

Every weekday morning, a long line of applicants forms outside the Umlazi SASSA office, many arriving as early as 4am to seek help with grant applications. However, these hopeful recipients are repeatedly turned away due to water shortages and malfunctioning toilets. This office is the sole location for grant applications within a radius of Umlazi, Isipingo, Ngonyameni, Bluff, Chatsworth, and Wentworth.

Upon arriving at the facility around 2pm on Wednesday, our reporter witnessed officials refusing assistance to applicants, citing a water outage. Locked toilets, filled with water from a burst pipe, further impeded the process, as the toilets had been closed for three months according to the applicants. Faith Ngcobo, a 29-year-old child support grant applicant from Ngonyameni, recounted queuing four times without success, only to be turned away midday when the office had reached its limit of 50 people.

Candice Chetty, another applicant, had already reached queue number 65 by 1pm and still had not been helped. Disability grant applicant Siboniso Mhlongo had visited the office three times without receiving the assistance he needed. According to SASSA KZN spokesperson Mbizeni Mdlalosa, the office operates from 7:30am to 4pm on weekdays, but the exact timing of when beneficiaries will be serviced cannot be predicted.

The delays are attributed to the ongoing water issues and broken toilets, which officials deem a health hazard. Mdlalosa mentioned that they are considering moving to new offices in December, as the current location is plagued by scrap metal thieves stealing copper pipes. Applicants who cannot receive help at the Umlazi office can visit alternative SASSA locations such as Lamontville Sizakala Center, Wentworth WOW centre, Mnini Thusong Centre, Durban Station, and Nsimbini at Folweni.