In December, Postbank suspended ATM withdrawals for Sassa grants beneficiaries using the gold Sassa card.
According to the bank, this decision was taken following an unusual activity that had been picked up in its systems.
Many old age, disabled and child grants could not be accessed on the specified payment dates for both November and December.
In a statement, Postbank said it has been experiencing a number of technical glitches that disrupted the smooth withdrawal of social grants.
It added that an investigation had uncovered a series of network attacks by criminal elements determined to commit systematic ATM card fraud-related crimes on Postbank payments using sophisticated modus operandi.
“As a mitigating exercise, and in consultation with our partners following the resurgence of these criminal activities at the inception of the December payments, it has become necessary that Postbank suspends Sassa grants withdrawal at ATMs for those clients using the Postbank-issued Sassa gold cards,” the state-owned bank said.
Grant recipients were advised to withdraw their Sassa grants at any retail outlet that had the cashback system, namely Shoprite, Checkers, Usave, Pick n Pay and Boxer.
These glitches have apparently been sorted for January, and payment dates have been announced. As Monday (January 2) was a public holiday (because January 1 fell on a Sunday), payments will start Tuesday (January 3).
The January payment dates are as follows:
– Older Person’s Grants: January 3 2023
– Disability Grants: January 4 2023
– All Other Grants: January 5 2023
Unlike in December, Sassa grant funds may be withdrawn in various ways, including from retailers and ATMs.
Social grant clients with the Sassa gold card can continue using the same card as it remains valid to use at any place that accepts bank card transactions.
This time of the year always brings about high crime rates, especially theft and fraud – so Sassa recipients have been urged be extra vigilant and to:
– Rather use their card for purchases and payments;
– Not withdraw large amounts of money and carry it around with them;
– Make sure that they get their card back after every single purchase.
Acting spokesperson Moabi Pitsi also said: “Sassa urges applicants for the Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant of R350 to check and update, on the online platform, their banking details when required.
“Sassa will keenly monitor the January payments to stick to paying the right social grant, to the right person, at the right time and place always.”
There are millions of South Africans who rely on Sassa grants for necessities, and in January in particular, people need their monies for school-related items.
So when Sassa and its service providers have “glitches” – it negatively affects the lives of the grant recipient and everyone in the household who relies on it.
Sadly, trying to get hold of Sassa (via the methods they tell you to use) seems to be a useless exercise. When you call their 0800 601011 number – you can be in an endless queue, and have the call dropped at any time.
Sassa always tells people to send them an email with all their relevant information should they have queries. In the past, I have helped recipients with the writing of these emails. Yet, after spending time to put in their unique details and outlining their problem – all you get back is a generic, copy-and-paste email and not much else.
I have also spent time in the Sassa queues and tried dealing with the representatives at Sassa branches and even the post offices.
Quite honestly, the attitude of most of these people (the ones who aren’t blatantly rude) is one of “I don’t care”.
I am not someone who likes to make New Year’s resolutions, but I have decided that this year I am going to work harder to highlight the dissatisfaction of ordinary South African citizens with government departments, who simply don’t give us the service that we deserve. Who knows – perhaps we can shame them into doing better!
From the minister of a department, to the security guard working at ground level – we need to start holding these people to account. They are getting paid to do a job and render a service. We should insist that they do it – and do it properly.
dailyvoice@inl.co.za