Following the uproar over the delayed payments of South African Social Security Agency’s (Sassa) grants this month, the government has vowed to start the upcoming payment run in less than two weeks’ time, to avert a delay of payment to its beneficiaries.
The assurance was given by Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Mondli Gungubele, alongside Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu, during a joint ministerial briefing on the Sassa social grant payments by Postbank yesterday.
Gungubele said as it stood, all beneficiaries who had struggled to gain access to their grants or experienced system challenges on September 5 and 6, had all been corrected, with funds readily available to beneficiaries.
He said the funds in their Postbank accounts were accessible at bank ATMs, retailers, and Post Office branches.
The minister stressed that the Postbank account worked similar to a normal bank account, which meant beneficiaries could withdraw cash or purchase goods from merchants, and did not need to withdraw their money all at once.
Over and above that, Gungubele said their teams had already started preparing to ensure that they did not encounter the challenges experienced this month.
Scores of Sassa beneficiaries were witnessed sleeping outside Postbank offices in their areas, making their way to Sassa offices and blasting the department on social media following the delays in payments of social grants.
“Our officials will continue to engage to ensure that we are ready to pay on time in the next month. We will start with the October payment cycle in less than two weeks,” said Gungubele.
“The two departments and their agencies understand the regrettable strain that the grants payment challenges that we have experienced caused the most vulnerable of our society. We reiterate our sincerest apologies to all social grant beneficiaries.”
The two ministers rubbished the numerous statements circulating around the challenges experienced by Postbank, and explained that the root cause of the system challenges related to the entities migration to a new system.
According to the departmental heads, the recent migration had been unfolding for a while in line with its 2022/23 Corporate Plan and formed part of the requirements of its licence application with the South African Reserve Bank.