Civil society organisation PayTheGrants South Africa has expressed concerns over delayed child support grant payments of Gold Card holders due to what the Post Bank refers to as "external security difficulties." Many recipients of child grants are now frustrated and outraged as a result of this.
As a result, Sassa has recently come under fire from the public for its delays in disbursing the Child Support Grant to recipients. The social grant recipients who own Sassa gold cards, according to the civil society organisation PayTheGrants South Africa, have not yet received their grant payments.
Later, the organisation's project manager, Elizabeth Raiters, revealed that although some grant recipients had received messages stating that their grants had been deposited into their accounts, their funds were unavailable when they went to the Post Bank to withdraw them.
They would be informed that their funds have already been withdrawn when they decide to collect their grant at retail stores. It would later come to light that the delays happen due to external security issues.
When they tried to withdraw, no money came out but when they went to the retailers they were told that the money withdrew already and to fill out forms so they could get the money back. Sassa said that there was some Cyber attack on the PostBank and that is the reason why they never got their money,
Raiters continues by stating that since only a small number of grant recipients have received payment, the matter has not yet been fully resolved.
She further adds that despite assurances from the Post Bank that the issue will be solved, it appears to be the same beneficiaries who are dealing with payment delays. Additionally, it appears that recipients of the R350 grant were also impacted by the delays.
“It's very bad for beneficiaries the majority of these beneficiaries are also recipients of the SRD grant, so they also struggling with pay dates on the SRD grants and now they're having double blows where they're not getting their children grants and they're also not getting the SRD Grant which is very hectic on communities” Raiter added
In response, the Post Bank has since apologised to recipients stating that a team of experts in law enforcement agencies are working on the problem and that they will inform beneficiaries when ATM services are available again.
