Postbank on Sunday said South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) gold card beneficiaries are now able to collect their social grants at ATM’s and retailers after its system glitches were resolved.
The glitches affected Sassa grant beneficiaries with gold cards. The grant beneficiaries were not able to make withdrawals at the post office, as well as shops that provide the cashback functionality, including Shoprite, Checkers, Pick n Pay, Usave and Boxer.
While there was a system glitch, Postbank customers could not make over the counter payments, withdrawals and even deposits.
“The payment system challenges have been resolved from Saturday afternoon (5 November 2022), and we have since been recording stability with successful transactions over the ATM and retailers, said Bongani Daiko, Postbank spokesperson.
Daiko added that most of the Sassa grant beneficiaries use the gold card from Postbank to make withdrawals from ATMs and retail shops.
Postbank apologises to all Sassa grant beneficiaries for the inconvenience caused due to these system challenges,” said Daiko.
“We know that social grants are important to the livelihood of the most vulnerable in our community and we sincerely apologise for the inconvenience experienced during the system glitch.”
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana during his Medium Term Budget Policy Statement in October, said the R350 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant will be extended again.
“The SRD grant was introduced in May 2020 as a temporary measure to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable, who were affected by [Covid-19] lockdown measures. It has been extended several times since then. Discussions on the future of the grant are ongoing and involve very difficult trade-offs and financing decisions,” he said.
The SRD grand is expected to be extended until March 2024.
Source: The Citizen, South African Government, image from Twitter: @Radio702