SASSA grant payments hit a snag
SASSA assures beneficiaries that grants will be paid.
SOUTH African Social Security Agency (SASSA) spokesperson Paseka Letsatsi, says individuals who are still experiencing difficulties with their cards should contact them.
Social grant beneficiaries in the country were engulfed with confusion following the change from an old to a new payment system for social grants.
“The communication has been forwarded to all our regional management teams to make sure that where there is a crisis or problem, there’s also an immediate intervention. We can safely say that both SASSA and the South African Post Office (SAPO) are working together to make sure that if there are problems they must be resolved,” he said.
Grant recipient, Prince Anwar said: “It’s such a mess, people went to SASSA office and then everyone was referred to the Post Office and now there are these massive long lines because of the incorrect information given to people. When receiving the new gold card nobody was told to start the new card at the Post Office, we don’t need this frustration.”
Meanwhile, the Acting CEO of SASSA Abraham Mahlangu, has noted the challenges experienced by grants beneficiaries during the current social grant payment cycle.
ALSO READ: Post Office issues over 1 million new SASSA cards
“We are aware that beneficiaries are experiencing problems with the electronic payment of their social grants. What is being experienced is a result of a process of changing from an old to a new payment system for social grants. SASSA is also in a process of phasing out Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) as directed by the Constitutional Court and introducing SAPO to pay social grants. We assure beneficiaries that their social grants will be paid in full. In fact, the funds are already in their accounts. We request beneficiaries to give themselves at least three days to withdraw their grants,” said Mahlangu.
The agency says should a beneficiary choose to access their funds through an ATM, the account type a beneficiary chooses should be a savings account and in the event of the savings option being rejected, the beneficiary can then choose the cheque account option.
“We wishes to apologise for the inconvenience caused to beneficiaries. SASSA and SAPO are working tirelessly to find a solution to this problem and ensure that all beneficiary services are restored in the shortest possible time. We further undertake to keep our beneficiaries informed,” concluded Mahlangu.
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