DSD minister accuses Postbank of dragging its feet w.r.t its card swapping project

The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting Postbank in ensuring that social grant beneficiaries can seamlessly transition from the gold SASSA card to the black Postbank card.

PICTURE: GovernmentZA

Social Development Minister Nokuzola Tolashe, met with her counterparts – the Members of Executive Council (MINMEC) responsible for Social Development - and held a second meeting in Cape Town on Friday, whereby she accused Postbank of dragging its feet in addressing challenges plaguing its card swapping project. Postbank has until 20 March to conclude the process.

 “Our clients must get what they deserve. That is our responsibility,’’ said Tolashe. The minister emphasised that as government they must lead, advise, and deliver to ensure that beneficiaries receive their grants with dignity and without unnecessary hardship that compromises their human dignity.

Acting CEO of SASSA, Themba Matlou, presented the agency’s progress, challenges and mitigation strategies at a meeting of the Social Development Minister and the MECs on Friday, and said that Postbank has already replaced 624 000 cards, and has undertaken to increase service sites, adding tellers, and deploying roving teams to improve accessibility.

According to SASSA – as of 13 February, 48 142 Postbank Black Cards have been issued in the Western Cape. 287 914 beneficiaries’ SASSA Gold Cards still need to be replaced.

Western Cape Social Development MEC, Jaco Londt, says he has asked for additional service point to assist beneficiaries.

‘’Between 4 and 13 February, the daily average of SASSA clients replacing their cards in the Western Cape was 1490. The outstanding average per site is almost 24 000. If this average continues until 20 March, Postbank will be able to assist only 52 171, which will leave 82% of the outstanding 287 914 SASSA clients that still need to be assisted in the province. Thousands of beneficiaries will thus be left in limbo.’’

‘’Today in the MINMEC meeting I advocated for at least an additional 49 service points in the province (300% increase on existing capacity) to properly service the Western Cape’s beneficiaries, bringing our total sites to 65. At the current rate and without an increase in sites, it will be impossible to meet the March deadline. The Western Cape’s SASSA grant beneficiaries deserve a fair opportunity to migrate to the Postbank Black Cards. We also asked for a schedule of the Postbank mobile offices that will be going into these areas, as we’ve received many queries from the public about this,’’ added Londt.

SASSA announced an extension of its operating hours from 06:00 to 19:30 on weekdays and weekends to speed up card replacements and payment method changes. The agency says it will extend these hours until April 2025, ensuring all requests and transactions are processed timeously.

 

Done By: Mitchum George