‘I need loan sharks to live’: The human toll of Postbank’s ‘technical glitch’

The delayed social grant payments following a technical “glitch” on the Post Bank payment system has brought a difficult time for Zorro Mahlangu, 61, from Vosloorus and his family.

This is the fourth system failure since the Postbank took over payments in October last year. Mahlangu told The Citizen yesterday he had to borrow money from loan sharks.

“We have been promised that this problem will be resolved but had to wait for a whole week,” he lamented.

“Do you understand that I had to take the route of loan sharks with a 50% interest in order to put food on the table. I am the breadwinner in my family and we were affected. I could not buy bread or electricity.

“My family relies on me and no one else. Things are already so tough, so the delay of the payments has just set me back.”

Mahlangu said the government was “trying to convince citizens to vote for them next year” but they still continued to fail to provide basic services.

“They will always come with excuses. There is always something with them. They need to make sure this does not happen again,” he said.

“With this money, we are able to buy food, medication and other important things.”

Yesterday, government promised to do better after thousands of social grant recipients were affected by delayed payments.

Another Vosloorus resident, Ntombi Mahlalela, said while the R350 grant helped with essential needs, it was not enough – and not consistent.

“Sometimes we get it and sometimes we don’t. At times maybe someone has sent you just R100 in your account to go buy something important or even look for a job, you will not receive it the next month,” she said

“To me, it is untrustworthy. Four months can pass without receiving it with no valid explanations, which puts you in a difficult situation because we really need it.”

Despondent pensioners had to return home empty-handed last week after the Postbank experienced intermittent system challenges at ATMs and retailers which led to failed withdrawal attempts by recipients for the old age and disability grants.

This affected about 600 000 beneficiaries, which translated to around 10% of the 5.3 million beneficiaries which were paid their social grants via Postbank’s SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) gold cards every month.

Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Mondli Gungubele and Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu yesterday briefed the media after a “technical glitch” resulted in deferred payments Gungubele said government extended its “sincerest apologies to all grant beneficiaries” who encountered difficulties accessing their grants.

“The two departments and their agencies share the pain of beneficiaries, in this case the elderly and persons with disabilities, who solely depend on the provision for their daily livelihoods,” he said.

“We would like to confirm to South Africa that the majority of these accounts have now been corrected and clients have been able to access their money.

Postbank has completed more than 500 000 funds reversals to date, and the affected beneficiaries have got their social grants payments.

“However, it is important to acknowledge that due to the manual processes involved, it is time-consuming, which has taken a longer than desirable period for clients that were impacted since last week to access their money.

“Government assures South Africa and social grants beneficiaries that all beneficiaries that have not yet received their payments will be paid in full.”

Zulu added that those responsible for the delays in social grant payments will be held liable.