Sassa Grant Payment Method Raises Concerns.
The South African Social Security Agency pays social grants on the first week of each month. Yet Post Bank has recently faced challenges that could disrupt its normal payment process.
Sassa Grant Payment Method Raises Concerns
Sassa recently introduced a cardless withdrawal method for Sassa Gold card beneficiaries. This is because some beneficiaries’ gold cards expired on March 31st and April.
Postbank’s gold card renewal deal was further challenged by last week’s announcement of the liquidation of South Africa’s post office, which led to the closure of post offices across the country.
However, The Department of Social Development is concerned about Sassa’s temporary cardless grant collection method.
According to the provincial department’s spokesperson, Monique Mortlock-Malgas, Several affected beneficiaries faced various challenges when trying to collect their grants.
- We have visited various service points in Sassa offices across the province over the last couple of months, just to document all of the complaints from beneficiaries on the ground. We’ve spoken to beneficiaries on the ground MEC Fernandez has on numerous occasions even have to step in when she saw inefficient services, Where there were no proper queue Management Systems in place.
In response to collusion between them and Sassa’s provincial and national management for a more viable solution, Sassa decided to extend the validity period of the Gold Card.
The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA welcomes the decision of the Payment Association of South Africa (PASA) to extend the validity of all expired SASSA/Postbank Gold Card until 31 December 2023.
As a result, Social grants beneficiaries can continue to use their expired cards at retail stores such as Pick n Pay, Checkers, Shoprite, USave, OK, and Boxer.
However, Mortlock-Malgas stated that Sassa did not effectively communicate these changes. Additionally, most of the beneficiaries do not have access to social media platforms.
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