Sassa turns the corner with new card
ANEW dawn looms for beneficiaries of social grants with the advent of the new Sassa card.
The introduction of a new card signals a new dawn in the lives of beneficiaries of social grants. Sassa is phasing out the old card used by beneficiaries as part of the transition process which will result in severing ties with the current payment contractor Cash Paymaster Services by the end of September.
For some time now, beneficiaries have had to endure some unfortunate transactions in the form of deductions on their social grants – others authorised and in some cases unauthorised deductions in the form of airtime, electricity units and excessive funeral premiums.
In terms of regulation 26A of the Social Assistance Act, the only deductions permitted are for funeral cover which should not surpass 10% of the value of the grant.
This notwithstanding, scheming businesses hoodwinked beneficiaries into signing agreements that they did not understand, only to be startled by huge deductions going off their grants.
Sassa took matters of this nature seriously, to protect beneficiaries by introducing a dispute resolution mechanism that sought to assist those affected by ensuring that what was illegally taken off their grants was returned.
The agency even went to the courts to prevent such practices. However, in some cases, the maladies continued because of erudite tactics of those who would do anything to deceive beneficiaries.
In some cases it has been discovered that beneficiaries themselves would go and seek loans from certain institutions and loan sharks using their cards and handing over their pins and identity documents as some sort of collateral to secure loans.
Sassa has turned the corner with the advent of the new Sassa card which has been available since May this year.
All beneficiaries who enrol on the new Sassa card will no longer experience any form of illegal deductions going off their grants.
Furthermore, the new card, issued by the South African Post Office guarantees beneficiaries a different experience when using it at the merchants.
Beneficiaries will have three free cash withdrawals at merchants who are working with Sassa. One free withdrawal at a post office outlet per month and free swipes (purchases) at merchants. The card swipe process is proceeding well across the country and is expected to be completed by September this year.
Now that it is evident the government has made significant strides in ensuring that beneficiaries of social grants are protected from reprehensible practices, there are persistent attempts by peddlers of fake news to propagate confusion among recipients of social grants.
The agency has noted with umbrage, short messages being circulated informing beneficiaries that they have to re-register for their social grants for them to continue to be paid.
The messages go further to suggest that pay points will be phased out completely. This is utterly misleading and not true. Social grants recipients and general members of the public are urged to ignore such messages and be more cautious as they receive and consume information.
Sassa wishes to assure all beneficiaries that grants will continue to be paid even as the old service provider is being phased out.
The partnership with the South African Post Office will work to the benefit of recipients. Other methods of paying social grants such as through personal bank accounts and the use of merchants will guarantee that the right social grant is paid to the right person at the right time and place. Paseka Letsatsi Head of Communications: Sassa