More than 190k grant beneficiaries still need to transition cards as deadline looms

As the deadline for the social grant beneficiaries loom to transition from the gold SASSA card to the black Postbank card, the Western Cape Department of Social Development has expressed concern about the Postbank’s ability to meet the social grants card migration deadline.

Social grant beneficiaries are supposed to migrate from using the gold cards to the black cards by next Thursday, 20 March 2025. The beneficiaries have faced several challenges in trying to get the new cards.

PICTURE: GovernmentZA

Western Cape MEC for Social Development, Jaco Londt, says he met with Postbank’s management, earlier this month, whereby the provincial government would assist with the transition.

‘’We agreed to this despite Postbank being a national entity and not falling under the power of the Western Cape Government. Since that meeting however, Postbank has, ignored the commitments that were made that day: They have not provided us with updates on the operational service points so we could communicate this to the public; They have not invited us to their meetings with SASSA; They have not provided us with the necessary information so we can assist them with recruitment of staff to work at card replacement service points; They have not provided us with updates on the conversion rate of the card migration (how many Western Cape beneficiaries still need to replace their cards,’’ added Londt,

‘’I am deeply disappointed that what I thought would be a fruitful working relationship that would benefit vulnerable residents has not continued. We had agreed to work together for the benefit of the thousands of Western Cape SASSA grant beneficiaries who need to be kept abreast of developments, but it seems that agreement was one-sided.’’

‘’We have heard of people having issues using these Postbank Black Cards, like not being able to withdraw grant money with these cards. We have raised these and many other issues with Postbank.

The MEC encouraged beneficiaries to consider grants being paid into their bank accounts.

‘’If this option is more feasible, I will advise them to go to their nearest SASSA office to make this change.’’

As of 12 March, thus far 102 680 SASSA Gold Cards have been replaced in the Western Cape; 190 735 cards still need to be replaced; and 28 631 beneficiaries have opted to move to other banks. Furthermore, approximately 18 000 forms for beneficiaries to migrate to other banks have been submitted to SASSA. Nationally, over 1.4 million cards must still be replaced.

‘’Postbank has shown it cannot be trusted to deal with the immense responsibility of dealing with the grant disbursements. The shambolic card migration process is evidence of this. Our offer stands to assist Postbank however we can for the benefit of vulnerable residents, but they will need to step up,’’ said Jaco Londt, Western Cape Social Development MEC.

 

Done by: Mitchum George