The backlog regarding the payment of social grant monies to beneficiaries affected by Postbank’s technical glitches, has been cleared. These technical glitches were resolved on 6 September after inconveniencing several beneficiaries, specifically holders of the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) cards.
Recipients were left stranded as they were unable to make any transactions countrywide. Sassa and Postbank have confirmed the technical glitches have since been resolved.
According to Dr Bongani Diako, spokesperson of Postbank, the issue affected a significant number of beneficiaries.
“There are approximately 5,2 million people who are using Postbank-Sassa cards. The issue at hand regarding the ability to access funds affected around just above 400 000 beneficiaries, which we have now since processed the money back into their accounts,” said Diako.
He has confirmed that all access to ATM Sassa grant transactions were fully restored, with the entity attending to a few exceptions where some beneficiaries’ money is not in their account.
Beneficiaries using the Postbank-Sassa gold card could not make withdrawals or initiate transactions at ATMs and various retailers other than the Postbank point of sale (POS), despite the state agency having made payments for the beneficiaries’ accounts.
This was observed when several recipients were calling out for assistance when experiencing a problem with the withdrawal of money from ATMs and shops. During this two-day period, scores of beneficiaries returned home frustrated after travelling long distances, especially those in rural areas.
According to Bridget Masango, DA shadow minister of Social Development, 44% of South Africa’s 60.6 million people are reliant on social grants as the main source of income to provide their families. Sassa reportedly distributes permanent social grants to more than 18 million people in the country every month.
