Nationwide computer glitch delays SASSA card swapping
20 August 2018
Bonisiwe Mzimela, a pensioner in her late 60s from Sweetwaters, says she has already made four trips to the SASSA (South African Social Security Agency) office in Vulindlela, Pietermaritzburg, hoping to swap her old card for the new one.
Mzimela was among hundreds of grant beneficiaries who stood in snaking queues last week outside the SASSA office, GroundUp reported. Most people were there to query grant payments or to swap their current SASSA cards for the new South African Post Office (SAPO) card.
On Friday, SASSA told GroundUp that the delays were the result of a computer glitch across the country which prevented the issuing of the new cards.
"The lines are very long. Since [August 8], I've been waking up at 04:00. I went home without being assisted because the computers were offline. The queue was long the next day and all of us were not attended to. They open at 07:00 and close at 16:00," said Mzimela.