Pensioners say they are being robbed of hundreds of rands every month before withdrawing their Sassa grants.
The pensioners have raised some discrepancies in their monthly payouts from the Gatesville Post Office.
Speaking to IOL, a 79-year-old woman from Belgravia said she has been receiving her payouts via Post Bank since February last year, however, it remains a constant struggle.
Post Banks are situated inside every SA Post Office (Sapo).
“Every month, religiously, R200 to R300 less is paid out. I have no loans, and with the price of food we are already barely surviving.
“I went to the Sassa offices in Wynberg, only for them to show me on their system my full amount of R2,200 is paid out every month,” she said.
“Sassa told me Post Bank is using our money, our balances for their debt because they are in debt. I don’t know what to do because Sassa told me they pay our money out in full. I saw it on the computer.”
Sapo has been dumped into turmoil after almost 5,000 employees heard they could be retrenched. Sapo is now looking for help from the private sector as it tries to remain afloat, reports IOL.
Sassa spokesperson Shivani Wahab said unauthorised deductions from social grants have been a long-standing issue.
“Sassa encourages beneficiaries to have their social grants deposited directly into their personal banking accounts.”
Spokesperson for the Post Office, Louise Brugman said in order to investigate the allegations, the Post Office needed the information of the grant beneficiaries, such as their Post Bank account number to establish if there is misconduct, fraud, or theft involved.