Postbank’s technical glitches affecting vulnerable SASSA beneficiaries
6 September 2023
The DA has been inundated by complaints from desperate South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) grant beneficiaries who are struggling to withdraw their funds from ATMs and retailers due to technical glitches from Postbank. This is particularly worrying as yesterday was allocated for the payment of old age grants and many seniors were forced to return home empty-handed after queuing for hours in the wind, rain and cold. Today is allocated for disability grants, and all indications are that the glitches are persisting, and people are unable to access their funds.
We call on the Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu, to ensure that the problem is immediately fixed to ensure that already vulnerable individuals aren’t plunged deeper into crisis.
The glitches affected beneficiaries with SASSA gold cards. This despite the fact that cards’ expiry dates have been to December 2023 as SASSA and the Postbank failed to renew the gold cards timeously.
The DA has also been informed that the Postbank is currently not renewing any gold cards even though beneficiaries only have four months left in which to receive their new cards and no indication from Postbank or SASSA on whether the expiry dates would be extended yet again.