Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu and Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Mondli Gungubele, gave insight into why thousands of people were left without their September 2023 SASSA grant payments during a media briefing held today, 14 September 2023.
A technical glitch that occurred during the first week of this month left thousands of grant beneficiaries without their only source of income, particularly recipients of the Older Person's grant and the Disability grant.
The system issue has since been resolved, but beneficiaries are still waiting on their payments, much to their frustrations.
The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) went on to instruct unpaid grant beneficiaries to collect their Older Person's and Disability grants on Friday, 8 September 2023.
The entity responsible for paying social grants said all monies would be available for collection at ATMs, retailers and Post Office Branches.
The Cause Behind the Technical Glitch
In today's media briefing, Ministers Zulu and Gungubele have issued a joint statement, extending their sincerest apologies, and recognising the difficulties that not getting promised social grant monies on time, can and has presented.
Gugubele said that "system challenges are a thing of the past," reiterating that the system has been fixed and improved to prevent similar instances occurring in the future.
But, the Postbank CEO has said that the only the promise they can make is that they will attempt to prevent something like this from happening again, but cannot guarantee that glitches will never occur in the future.
Although the issue has since been resolved, not all beneficiaries have received their social grant money. Due to the faulty Postbank system, around 600 000 beneficiaries were affected; of this figure, 500 000 have been able to access their money.
Gugubele and Zulu have stated that the process of reversing and paying the funds is time consuming, which is why not everyone has received their September grant money, but have also assured beneficiaries that their social grants will be paid in full, in due time.
The Expiring of Sassa Gold Cards Are Unrelated to the Glitch
During today's media briefing, Gugubele stated that the Sassa Gold Cards, used by thousands of beneficiaries and which are set to expire in December 2023, were not linked to the technical glitch.
At the time, Postbank said clients using the Gold Card could not make withdrawals or transact at ATMs and other retailers, even though Sassa had made payments into clients' bank accounts.
In the statement, Postbank said:
The technical challenges only affected clients who were using the Sassa Postbank gold card. Other clients, who were receiving grants at various pay points or other banks, except Postbank, were not affected and were able to withdraw their payments.
The Glitch Has Created Opportunities To Defraud Sassa
Postbank and the Ministers have strongly condemned the efforts of some to defraud Sassa, by attempting to claim their social grants twice.
According to Minister Gugubele, there are some people who have already been paid their money, but are now claiming that they are still waiting for their grant payment. These double claims "clog the system", said Gugubele, and delays rightful payments from taking place.
Postbank and Sassa staff will be appearing in communities during the coming week, to assist beneficiaries where they can and ensure that grant monies are received.
