“Technical challenges” prevent beneficiaries from accessing social grants

2 April 2019

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has received various complaints from elderly social grant recipients across the country that they were not able to access their grants on Monday.

On Monday evening, SASSA told the DA that the lack of payments was due to “a technical challenge with the system with some accounts not having been credited”. SASSA also stated that “the system [was] not coping with the volumes resulting in the rejection of some transactions”.

It is alarming that the South African Post Office (SAPO) systems are not coping with the volumes when it should have been made to do so by now, as the migration from CPS to SAPO was finalised in September last year.

Any delay in grant recipients receiving social grants can have devastating knock on effects, affecting entire families and their need to live with dignity. For many South Africans their social grants are the difference between food on the table or going hungry.

The DA will continue to monitor the developments at SASSA and we will not hesitate to expose any delay in beneficiaries receiving their much needed grants

Issued by Bridget Masango, DA Shadow Minister of Social Development, 2 April 2019