South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) grants are administered in the first week of every month to its millions of beneficiaries.
When the Older Persons Grant beneficiaries withdrew their social grant payments on 1 December 2022 there were no issues until abnormal activity was picked up just when the Child Support Grant was expected to be administered.
PostBank spokesperson, Dr. Bongani Diako has shared that improving their systems came in handy in their recent experience. In an interview, Diako has announced:
A forensic investigation is currently underway to find the forces behind this.
As card fraud is on the rise mostly during this time of the year, experts in the banking industry have urged consumers to be on the lookout for such crimes during the festive season.
This incident has resulted in some Sassa beneficiaries being confused about payments not being administered this month, however, Postbank has redirected beneficiaries to retail outlets to make withdrawals of their grant payment funds for this month.
Since the Sassa gold payment card has the same functionalities as bank cards, beneficiaries may also use their payment cards to make purchases at the retailers.
The Post Office branches are also an additional channel for accessing social grant payments during this time, this will also be the best option to choose for individuals that might have forgotten their pin and alternatively use their fingerprint to access their funds.
In rural and remote communities, the Postbank does pitch up tents to assist beneficiaries to collect their monies.
The suspension of ATM usage was only limited to this time period as a temporary measure to protect social grant beneficiaries monies and as of next month, it will be business as usual.
