Recent news that the South African Post Office (SAPO) will be liquidated threatens to disrupt parts of the agency’s grant payment process.
This is because SAPO and its subsidiary, Post Bank process social grant payments for all social grant beneficiaries who are Sassa gold card holders. Throughout the course of April, Post Bank was in the process of reissuing these Sassa gold cards due to some of them expiring, since they have a limited span to function.
Roughly 175 000 of these Gold Cards started expiring in March and about 800 000 expired during April with more of them expiring in the following months, according to Post Bank Spokesperson, Bongani Diako.
Diako went on to say that the Post Bank has developed an alternative method through which beneficiaries can collect their grant payment.
What we have come up with as Post Bank is a method of paying all grant beneficiaries using a system that does not require a card, in order to circumvent the challenges that we have seen and ensure that grant payments are not disrupted.
Beneficiaries with expired gold cards can collect their social grant at retail outlets such as Shoprite, Checkers, Usave, Pick n Pay and Boxer, with their ID document and provide their card pin as authorization. You can go on to the website to check on your Sassa grant status to confirm if you will be receiving your grant.
When Will May Social Grant Payments Begin?
In May 2023 grant payments will start on Wednesday, 3 May 2023 with the distribution of the older persons grants.
- Older Persons Grant - 4 May 2023
- Disability Grant - 5 May 2023
- Children's Grants - 8 May 2023
Beneficiaries can also have their grants paid directly into their bank account. This is an attractive option for many beneficiaries as it allows them to access their money anytime.
