The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) says the introduction of biometric technology and a new queue management system is helping improve service delivery and reduce long waiting times at its offices nationwide.
The comes after widespread complaints from grant beneficiaries – particularly elderly people – about having to wait for hours in long queues, often in harsh weather conditions.
Implemented across the country
Earlier this month, SASSA officials visited the Bellville office in Cape Town, one of the agency’s busiest, to assess how new electronic systems are working.
The office has been piloting several digital interfaces for six months.
SASSA spokesperson Paseka Letsatsi said the system is not limited to one office and is being implemented across the country.
“The queue management system is not necessarily for Bellville office of SASSA only but it’s a process that we are rolling out (across) the whole country,” said Letsatsi.
Aimed at Managing Queues
According to SASSA, the system is designed to better manage queues by allowing beneficiaries to know when they will be assisted instead of waiting in long lines for extended periods.
Letsatsi explained that beneficiaries are issued with a number and informed of their estimated service time.
“The intention of the queue management system is to deal with the queues, and to make sure that people at the least, know the number that they have and what time they are going to be served,” he said.
He added that the technology is intended to improve convenience and reduce congestion at offices.
“It makes life easy because when your time comes, you are able to be called and have your number in hand, and it deals with the long queues,” Letsatsi added.
Call for Patience During Rollout
While the new system is expected to improve efficiency, SASSA has appealed for patience from beneficiaries as the biometric and queue management technology continues to be rolled out in offices across South Africa.
The agency says the changes form part of broader efforts to modernise service delivery, improve security and reduce overcrowding at service points.
The rollout follows growing concerns over the treatment of vulnerable beneficiaries, especially pensioners, who have previously faced long delays while collecting grants or accessing SASSA services.
Reduce waiting time to 90 minutes
SASSA Business Improvement Systems senior manager Oscar Muremi said SASSA’s goal was to reduce waiting times.
“Our goal is for people to wait for 90 minutes,” he said.
The Bellville office currently has an average waiting time of 247 minutes, or just over four hours.
Moremi said SASSA has already implemented smart queue management systems at 416 offices nationwide.
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