Sassa cards will work past expiry date
THE SOUTH African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has assured social grant beneficiaries in the Northern Cape that they will still be able to use their Sassa cards beyond the expiry date of December 31 2017.
Issues regarding the expiry date of the card have brought a lot of uncertainty among social grant beneficiaries, who are now living in fear of what will happen when the card expires on December 31.
“Sassa would like to assure beneficiaries of social grants that the matter has been dealt with and resolved by all parties concerned, namely CPS (Cash Paymaster Services) PASA and MasterCard,” Inno Khunou, Sassa Northern Cape spokesperson, said yesterday.
Following an agreement with all these parties Sassa yesterday confirmed that the official Sassa card issued to social grant beneficiaries would operate “without any problems” beyond the expiry date of December 31, 2017 printed on it.
“This therefore means that the card will be accepted at all retailers irrespective of the expiry date printed on it. The reason for this is that the technology and the acceptance of the card into the National Payment System requires no enhancement as this has already been addressed. Sassa further wishes to reiterate that the Sassa card bearing the colours of the South African flag remains the only official card and cannot be changed for any other card,” Khunou said.
Commenting on these developments, the CEO of Sassa, Pearl Bengu, reiterated that “beneficiaries of social grants do not have to panic anymore as this issue has finally been resolved”.
She further pointed out that “it has been agreed in our negotiations that PASA will issue a notice to all retailers informing them that they should accept the Sassa card as it will still function properly, irrespective of the expiry date printed on it.”
Bengu also assured beneficiaries that payment of their social grants would go ahead as usual.
She concluded by saying that the agency was aware that the expiry date on the card coincides with the period when most parents were preparing to take their children back to school and that Sassa would never allow any families or children to be impacted negatively by this issue.
Beneficiaries are also warned to be careful of any individuals posing as Sassa employees offering to exchange their Sassa cards for any other card because of the expiry date.
Meanwhile, Social Development Minister, Bathabile Dlamini, has authorised an “offer” to the South African Post Office (Sapo) to take over the payment of social grants.
In a statement this week, Dlamini’s department said it had agreed with recommendations from Bengu after a closed procurement process.
“Sassa has given Sapo an offer and has given them a reasonable time to respond. This is also after due diligence was conducted on Sapo,” the statement said.
“Sassa has been hard at work under the leadership of the Department of Social Development and the Minister of Social Development in trying to find the best solution for the payment of social grants.”
But, this “offer” has been met with scepticism, as its details remained shrouded in mystery.
This week, Social Development Department minister Bathabile Dlamini in a statement said SASSA had given Sapo an offer. There was no indication of what the offer contained.
Sapo is on record saying that it has the capacity to distribute Sassa grants to millions of recipients.
A government official, who spoke to the DFA’s sister newspaper The Star, on condition of anonymity, said the offer made to Sapo did not cover the payment of grants but just the provision of “an integrated payment system”.
It was not possible to independently verify this. Efforts to get clarity from Sassa and social development spokespersons had been unsuccessful at the time of publication. Sapo chief executive Mark Barnes yesterday said he was unable to comment on the offer until he had seen it.
A day earlier, Sassa was flayed by MPs after failing to appear before parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts.
In her statement, Dlamini said she had accepted a recommendation from acting Sassa chief executive Pearl Bhengu. This followed “a closed procurement process” between Sassa and Sapo.
“Sassa has given Sapo an offer and has given them a reasonable time to respond. This is also after due diligence was conducted on Sapo,” Dlamini said.
Sassa has been hard at work under the leadership of the Department of Social Development and the Minister of Social Development in trying to find the best solution for the payment of social grants.
In Parliament yesterday, IFP MP Liezl van der Merwe, asked Deputy President Cyril if he was not concerned at the “slow progress” between Sassa and Sapo.
“It is again putting the lives of the most vulnerable at risk. Can you give us the assurance that there is no deliberate attempts within your government to sabotage the Post Office and therefore keeping the back door open for Cash Payment Services to come back as a service provider to pay the grants,” said van der Merwe.
Ramaphosa responded: “We should all be concerned and keep this matter on our radar screen.
“It is important that what the constitutional court ruled on, should be implemented,” he said. “I am as equally concerned as you are. I am not aware of any plan, or mechanisms within government to make sure that the Post Office does not succeed. I am not aware of that. I am hoping that all these efforts that are being made, are being made with the view of implementing what the constitutional court ruled.”