The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has apologised to all grant recipients who were unable to collect their November 2022 grant payments. This is because the organisation responsible for paying grants experienced challenges, which meant that they could not pay social grants.
Sassa called on clients who have not received their grants to call the Post Bank South Africa’s toll-free number (0800 535 455) for assistance.
All clients contacting the Post Bank must ensure they have all their personal information on hand. This includes their ID number, as they will be asked to provide it.
Please have your ID number with you when calling.
Sassa’s Head of Grant Administration, Brenton Van Vrede issued an apology to all social grant beneficiaries who experienced issues using their Sassa cards. These issues meant that thousands of vulnerable people could not access the monthly grant.
Van Vrede says several glitches in the grant payment system resulted in many people having challenges accessing their grants and withdrawing their grant money from their Sassa cards.
“We’ve been working around the clock trying to resolve many of these issues to ensure that we restore payment services to people as soon as possible,” explained Van Vrede.
Once again our sincere apologies to all beneficiaries who have been inconvenienced by these challenges.
The vast majority of grant receipts were paid their Sassa grants for November 2022. However, there are a few people who have still not received their grant payment. Sassa hopes they will be paid over the next couple of days.
Post Bank CEO Lucas Ndala also apologised to grant recipients for the inconvenience caused by the grant payment challenges.
Ndala explained that the payment glitches first began at Post Office branches. Grant beneficiaries were then advised to use their Sassa cards to withdraw funds at ATMs. Grant receipts could also use their Sassa cards at select retailers to purchase goods.
However, on Friday 4 November 2022, the payment glitches spread to ATMs and retailers, meaning that grant beneficiaries had no way to collect their grant money. These issues were quickly resolved but the issues with Post Office grant payments remained.
Ndala said the Post Bank is working to fix the challenges with Post Office grant payments. However, until these issues are resolved, clients can withdraw their grants at ATMs and use their Sassa cards at selected retail stores.
