POST OFFICE

Post Office and payouts IN AUGUST, the South African Post Office (Sapo) paid 5.4 million social grant beneficiaries on the new SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) card.

Sapo has switched more than

6.5 million beneficiaries to the new Sassa card to date. About 76% of the August grant payments were finalised in the first week of September.

Those who took on cards from other institutions such as the banks can also swop to the new gold Sassa card.

To date, Sapo has paid 97% of the 5.4 million grant recipients who use the new gold Sassa card. Payment is still at Sassa cash pay points in line with the payment schedules.

The new card gives grant beneficiaries three free cash withdrawals a month from supermarkets, unlimited free swipes for purchases and one free withdrawal a month at an ATM or a post office.

Sapo is implementing functionality for Sassa beneficiaries to withdraw their grants in-branch with only an ID copy.

This is intended to mitigate challenges that beneficiaries may experience with a pin and electronic banking services.

Sapo is in its last week of cash payments to more than 300 000 social grant recipients at 1 213 payment points.

These are in areas that do not have a post office within reach, or any national payment infrastructure points.

More than 200 000 social grants recipients in these isolated areas have already been successfully paid via Sapo’s mobile units, with the remainder due to be paid in the next week in line with Sassa’s payment schedule.

The following is already in the control of the state through Sassa and Sapo, which was not the case under the previous service provider:

◆ Sassa and Sapo have full access to the

beneficiary data.

◆ Sassa and Sapo have full access and

ownership of biometric data.

◆ Sassa and Sapo own the Visa Scheme

certification for all the cards issued.

◆ Sassa and Sapo have full control of the

transactional data.

◆ Sassa and Sapo have full ownership of the Sassa bin. No other product is using the same bin. South African Post Office Help from Black Sash

The Black Sash and community partner organisations assist individual beneficiaries who contact them through their monitoring of this transition to track their cases and resolve where the money is and how to access it.

They also have a national helpline – 072 663 3739 – where affected beneficiaries can call for advice on how to proceed. | Black Sash