The delays in the payment of Sassa social grants have been a cause of concern for most grant beneficiaries. Although the agency meets its monthly obligations, its vast payment network facilitated by Post Bank also encounters challenges in disbursement.
How Your Sassa Payments Work With Postbank
While some Sassa social grant recipients have received their grants for the current month, others have not yet received their grants for March. There is concern among this cohort that they may not receive their grant payments.
Through an arrangement with Sassa, the Post Bank processes 97% of grant payments via ATMs and retailers using the National Payments System. Since September, Sassa has been disbursing grants
As per their arrangement with the Post Bank, only 7% of the roughly 5 million social grant payments are processed by the Post Office. Additionally, a portion of grant payments is made via cash vans to beneficiaries living in remote areas.
Grant recipients without access to the National Pay System. Most grants are paid to ATMs and retailers, and withdrawals can be made using the Sassa Gold Card issued by Post Bank.
It has been reported that some recipients of social grants have received payment confirmations from Sassa, but are unable to withdraw funds when they attempt to do so.When Sassa says they have made the payment, they mean that the Post Bank has received their grant, according to Post Bank Spokesperson Bongani Diako. It must then be disbursed by the Post Office.
According to Diako, Sassa would likely check for fraud in such circumstances, which would take approximately ten days to investigate.However, under normal circumstances, a beneficiary with a similar issue would be able to receive their grant over the counter.
Grant payments can also be delayed by technical issues in the disbursement model of the Post Bank, particularly when their systems are down. Beneficiaries are notified of this situation and directed to alternative means of accessing their grants in this situation.
In January, 4,000 beneficiaries were affected by technical issues, resulting in a backlog in payments.Systematic cyber-attacks occurred between November and December 2022. Since then, the issue has been resolved, and Post Bank is currently working on a large-scale IT modernisation programme.