Sassa must choose a payment system urgently - Reserve Bank
Cape Town - Sassa needs to make a decision on its preferred system of paying out social grants to more than 17 million people, and it needs to do so urgently, the South African Reserve Bank says.
The SARB presented before Parliament's portfolio committee on social development on Wednesday on its role in assisting the transfer of the grants scheme from the current service providers.
SARB national payment head Tim Masela told the committee that Sassa now needed to focus on its core responsibility: collecting information from and communicating with the beneficiaries.
"The SARB believes that the finalisation of the architecture of the new, social grants scheme should be undertaken without further delay," Masela told MPs.
"In summary, in terms of Sassa's role, it should ideally cover its core competencies, and to prevent duplications, should make use of existing payment methods," he said, referring to banks and pay points.