Durban – South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) beneficiaries will be able to collect their money from all post offices in KwaZulu-Natal today, after Postbank experienced cash-delivery issues at 42 branches yesterday.
This comes after dozens of Sassa grants beneficiaries across the country were unable to draw their funds from ATMs and retailers after the bank experienced intermittent technical issues in September.
On Tuesday, Postbank urged Sassa social-grant beneficiaries in KZN, who were due to be paid, to collect their grant money at ATMs and participating retailers instead of Post Office branches.
“This is due to many Post Office branches in KwaZulu-Natal having reported that they anticipate having insufficient cash in store as a result of cash delivery delays,” said Postbank spokesperson Bongani Diako.
Speaking to The Mercury, Diako said the cash-delivery issues “only affected payouts” at 42 branches in KZN yesterday; other provinces were unaffected.
“By midday cash deliveries had already begun in most of the affected branches and all branches should be able to service customers fully starting from tomorrow (Wednesday),” he said.
Diako said it was important to note that 94% of beneficiaries collect their money at retailers and ATMs using the Postbank-issued Sassa gold cards, and only 6% use Post Office branches.
In addition, Diako said, beneficiaries were able to swipe the Sassa cards to pay for goods inside stores.
He said there were no reports of challenges on the ground.
“The October grants payments throughout the country are running smoothly and the Postbank system is stable, with many beneficiaries already having withdrawn their money successfully on all the available channels that include ATMs, retailers and Post Office branches,” said Diako.
Meanwhile, Sassa announced the resumption of services at its branch at Bridge City Mall in KwaMashu this week.
The Sassa office was torched during the July 2021 unrest.
Provincial Sassa spokesperson Sandy Godlwana said as an alternative measure Sassa had been conducting operations from mobile offices.
“The rebuilding and refurbishment of the Sassa office situated at the mall has been completed.”
The Bridge City Mall branch was open Monday to Friday, from 7.30am to 4pm, said Godlwana.