By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The CEO’s of SASSA and Postbank, Themba Matlou, and Nikki Mbenganshe, respectively, hosted a joint media briefing on progress made with replacing SASSA gold cards with Postbank black cards.
With just a few days left before to the deadline, the briefing focused on what will happen to grant beneficiaries that may have missed the deadline to replace their SASSA gold cards.
The briefing also outlined how the beneficiaries without cards will be able to get access to their social grants, which are a human right guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.
The enablement to exercise the right to access social grant payments for social grant beneficiaries that are bedridden and unable to reach the Postbank card replacement sites will also be addressed.
During a press briefing in Pretoria, Mbengashe said beneficiaries who miss the deadline won’t lose access to their grants.
She said those without the new Postbank black card can still collect their payments through the South African Post Office (Sapo), which has more than 500 branches nationwide.
These beneficiaries will need to present identification documents to receive their grants over the counter.
Mbengashe reassured recipients that their account numbers would remain unchanged, stating: “No one will be able to access your money except you.”
She acknowledged confusion surrounding the March 20 deadline, clarifying that Sassa gold cards would cease functioning after this date.
She urged beneficiaries to stop using these cards beyond the deadline.
Despite this cutoff, Postbank will continue issuing new black cards beyond 20 March.
“Even at the end of March into April we will continue to issue cards [and] we will continue to increase the number of [Postbank/Sassa] sites nationally. Currently we are sitting at over 329 sites nationally,” Mbengashe explained.
Postbank has transitioned more than 1.1 million Sassa beneficiaries from gold cards to the new Postbank black cards, according to Mbengashe.
Matlou reported that the agency distributes approximately 19 million social grants, with 15% of recipients receiving payments through Postbank.
Matlou emphasised that beneficiaries can choose their preferred payment method, noting that around 420 000 recipients have opted to use other commercial banks.Mbengashe clarified that while Postbank processes social grants for roughly 12 million beneficiaries, only 2.6 million actually bank with Postbank and require the card transition.
The card replacement programme was initiated primarily due to expiration dates on the existing gold cards.
Mbengashe explained that chip technology needs regular upgrades to maintain security features and ensure compatibility with ATM networks.