Durban — The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) in KwaZulu-Natal has apologised for the challenges that recipients have encountered with card replacements.
Sassa KZN spokesperson Sandy Godlwana said Sassa has noted the challenges faced by social grants recipients with regard to the replacement of their expired Sassa gold cards.
Godlwana said the Sassa gold card is issued by Postbank and it enables the grant recipients to transact using the card and PIN Code within the National Payment System (NPS) at banks’ ATMs, SA Post Office (SAPO) branches, retailers and Cash Pay Points (CPP). According to the law, all Visa and Mastercard expire after every five years.
She said Sassa has about 5.9 million social grant recipients who transact through the Sassa gold cards, the majority of which will expire by June 2023.
“Clients are urged to check the expiry date of their cards. All client payments will be processed as normal, and funds are safely stored in the client’s bank accounts. To avoid non-access to these funds in the client's bank accounts, recipients have the option to either replace the Sassa gold card at the identified SAPO branches or an alternative venue provided by Postbank, a participating retailer or make use of the cardless withdrawal option provided by Postbank,” Godlwana explained.
“Alternatively, clients can also utilise the services of another bank. Due to this, clients will need to request a change of payment method at their nearest local office or alternative venue that Sassa will make available specifically for this project,” she said.
Godlwana said social grant recipients who choose to get their social grants payment through their personal bank account must bring along the following documents to Sassa:
- Proof of bank account received from the bank or
- Three months bank statement that depicts the personal details of the client such as names and bank accounts
- Proof of identity
She said these documents should be submitted to the nearest Sassa office to mandate Sassa to pay the beneficiary social grant into the chosen personal bank account.
“There is no limit as to how many times beneficiaries can change their method of payment as it is their right to do so – beneficiaries are advised to request the change of method of payment once in a month. Sassa officials are always ready to assist grant recipients whenever there is a need to exercise their rights,” Godlwana said.
She added that Sassa intends to increase its capacity to enable faster processing of the requests for change of method of payment and will be extending its office operating hours to accommodate any increase by clients.
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