THE South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) is pleased to announce significant progress in migrating beneficiaries of social grants from the old Sassa card to the new gold Sassa card.
The old white Sassa card has reached expiry date but it deeply concerns Sassa that some beneficiaries are still holding on to the old card and not swapping it for the new gold Sassa card. The danger of holding on to the old card is that affected beneficiaries risk losing their benefits.
Just over half a million out of a total of about 10.9 million beneficiaries are still in possession of the old Sassa cards. Sassa and Sapo are working tirelessly to migrate these remaining beneficiaries to the new gold Sassa card. This is done through the nationwide government communication strategy which uses a variety of communication platforms in order to reach all social grant beneficiaries. Sassa remains concerned, despite the fact that it has fully complied with the Constitutional Court order.
Commenting on this latest milestone, the acting CEO of Sassa, Abraham Mahlangu said, “We are pleased to have complied with the instructions of the Concourt, particularly in ensuring that Sassa gets rid of any contractual ties with CPS. We urge all remaining beneficiaries of social grants who are still in possession of the old Sassa card to urgently swap them for the new gold Sassa card. We also wish to warn beneficiaries that soon we will no longer make any social grant payments into these old cards. For this reason, affected beneficiaries have to visit the nearest Sassa or post office to do a card swap. They simply have to bring along their ID documents and the old card so that they can be issued with the new one. The process takes less than five minutes.”
It cannot be over-emphasised that beneficiaries who haven’t swapped their old cards for the new gold Sassa card risk denying themselves a constitutional right to social assistance. Anyone who doesn’t swap their old cards for the new ones won’t be able to get their January 2019 grants. Individual letters have also been sent to beneficiaries as part of government’s mass communication campaign. November is the deadline for obtaining the new Sassa cards and, unfortunately, there will be no extension.
Beneficiaries are also requested to ignore tempting SMS and WhatsApp messages claiming that Sassa and some retailers are offering vouchers for unemployed people. This is fake news generated by criminals who want to defraud unsuspecting beneficiaries this festive season. Social grants for December will be made available from as early as November 28 at post offices, stores and ATMs to avoid the December rush. Cash pay points will start paying from December 3.
Beneficiaries seeking more clarity should call Sassa toll free on 0800 60 10 11 or visit Sassa News on Facebook.
For free daily local news in the south, visit our sister newspapers Alberton Record, Comaro Chronicle, Southern Courier and Get it Joburg South Magazine.
Remember to visit our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. You can also email our offices on cvdwalt@caxton.co.za, juliem@caxton.co.za or luckyt@caxton.co.za
Add us on WhatsApp today! Comaro Chronicle: 079 427 8074 and Southern Courier: 079 404 5789.
Get regular news updates sent directly to your inbox: Newsletter-Signup
