IT’S NOT an isolated incident that more than 11 000 South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) beneficiaries in Grabouw do not have access to nearby facilities to replace their gold cards with the new black ones.
In fact, says Black Sash, one beneficiary had to travel over 200km from Guse (villiage) to Kowa formerly known as Elliotdale in the Eastern Cape only to be told by Shoprite staff that the site had recently been closed, despite still being listed on the USSD service.
These concerns echo Social Development Minister Nokuzola Tolashe’s sentiments that Postbank had no plan in place to deal with the crisis presented by the process of replacing the existing Sassa gold cards with black cards belonging to the Postbank.
The process has to date caused widespread frustration with some beneficiaries including pensioners and people with disabilities arriving as early as 1am to be first in line. At times some were confronted by extortionists and other criminal elements, members of parliament were told when they were briefed this week.
While Postbank did not respond to direct questions posed with regards to the minister’s remarks, including that they will not meet their self-imposed deadline, in a joint statement Postbank and SASSA said social grant beneficiaries that had not yet migrated to new Postbank black cards yet will still be able to receive their next grant payments cycle scheduled for 4 to 6 March 2025 via the gold card.
“Beneficiaries will be able to perform all enabled transactions with their Sassa gold cards during the upcoming March payment run. They will be able to use gold cards to withdraw cash from ATM’s, make balance enquiries, print statements and also withdraw cash over the till in all retailers, further do balance enquiries and purchases.
"SASSA gold cards will be disabled at 17:00 (5pm) on 20 March 2025. Thereafter, no beneficiary will be able to use their gold card to make any transaction even if they have funds in their accounts. Retailers will not accept the cards for any transactions, and any attempts will result in automatic system transaction declines. The gold cards will also not be accepted by any ATM, and they may be swallowed when inserted in any ATM to attempt a transaction.
"Postbank and SASSA assure that beneficiaries that may have missed the 20 March 2025 deadline to switch to black cards will continue to be paid their SASSA grants and they will be enabled to access their funds without cards, therefore there is no need for any alarm,” said the entities.
After the cards are disabled, any funds balance due to beneficiaries and all subsequent months’ payments will be stored in their current individual Postbank dedicated grants accounts and the funds will be accessible through alternative methods of payment, or with the black cards once they have obtained them,” said Postbank CEO, Nikki Mbengashe.
Echoing the minister’s concerns, Black Sash said based on their monitoring, the March 20 deadline would not be met.
“We are glad that the Minister is realising that the deadline won’t be met. Through our community-based monitoring Black Sash recognises that this rollout is a crisis for beneficiaries who are being sent from pillar to post without a clear communication strategy of where to go and what is needed to facilitate the change of cards.
"Postbank is providing very limited resources and capacity to ensure that beneficiaries can change their cards in close proximity, which does not meet the match to enable all beneficiaries to change their cards by the deadline. With the deadline looming, beneficiaries are in a panic that they are at risk of not receiving their grant which they depend on to survive. They are spending monies to try and get their cards changed with lots of time, effort and incurring travelling which they can ill afford,” said Black Sash spokesperson, Oliver Meth.
Meth detailed one incident where a beneficiary traveled from about 224km but was turned away when she arrived at a Shoprite store.
"On Feb 10, she travelled to her nearest USSD listed site at Shoprite Mini Elliotdale only to be told by Shoprite staff that the site had recently been closed, whereas it was still listed on the USSD. She then heard from other community members in Elliotdale that there was a site in Mqanduli. However, it was getting late, so she returned home empty handed – it cost her R110 return and 7 hours of travelling. On 11 Feb, she travelled back again, waited in the queue for network issues to be resolved before replacing her card. Again, it was over 8 hours of travel and R190 return, costing her 2 full days and R300 – meaning that a significant portion (19%) of her Child Support Grants were lost during February (R1590).”
The organisation said communication gaps must be addressed through multimedia strategies and stakeholder engagements to ensure beneficiaries receive timely and accurate information.
Black Sash recommended extending the deadline.
Social Development MEC Jaco Londt said Postbank had committed to increasing from 16 sites, to 70 service points in the Western Cape over the next three weeks.
“We need surety that beneficiaries living in rural areas are reached by Postbank, whether through its roaming teams or addition of new sites. If the rollout of extra service points is to happen over the next three weeks, it seems prudent for the 20 March deadline to be extended again,” Londt said.
Cape Times