Ministerial Insights, Sassa Gold Cards Unrelated, and Efforts to Combat Fraud.The recent technical issue that disrupted Sassa grant payments in September 2023 has been successfully rectified. Ministers Lindiwe Zulu (Social Development) and Mondli Gungubele (Communications and Digital Technologies) jointly addressed the issue during a media briefing on September 14, 2023.
Ministerial Insights, Sassa Gold Cards Unrelated, and Efforts to Combat Fraud
The glitch, which occurred in the first week of September, affected thousands of beneficiaries, particularly those receiving the Older Person’s grant and the Disability grant. Although the system problem has been resolved, beneficiaries are still awaiting their payments.
Sassa instructed unpaid grant beneficiaries to collect their grants on September 8, 2023, from various collection points, including ATMs, retailers, and Post Office Branches.
In their joint statement, Ministers Zulu and Gungubele expressed their apologies for the delay and assured that the system had been improved to prevent future occurrences. However, the Postbank CEO acknowledged that while they would strive to prevent such issues, they couldn’t guarantee that glitches would never happen again.
Though the problem has been addressed, not all beneficiaries have received their grant money due to the time-consuming process of reversing and paying the funds. Ministers Gungubele and Zulu have reassured beneficiaries that their social grants would be paid in full, but it might take some time.
Sassa Gold Cards Unaffected by the Glitch
During the same media briefing, Minister Gungubele clarified that the Sassa Gold Cards, set to expire in December 2023, were not connected to the technical glitch. Postbank clients using the Gold Card experienced issues with withdrawals and transactions, even though Sassa had made payments into their bank accounts.
According to Postbank, the technical problems exclusively impacted clients using the Sassa Postbank gold card. Other clients receiving grants through various pay points or different banks, excluding Postbank, were unaffected and could withdraw their payments.
Efforts to Defraud Sassa Addressed
Postbank and the ministers condemned attempts to defraud Sassa, where some individuals claimed their social grants twice. Minister Gungubele noted that some individuals who had already received their payments were falsely claiming they hadn’t, leading to system congestion and delaying rightful payments.
Postbank and Sassa staff will be present in communities in the coming week to provide assistance to beneficiaries and ensure the timely receipt of grant payments.
