Note to editors: Please find attached soundbite by Alexandra Abrahams MP. Please see photos here and here.
The DA has been inundated by complaints from desperate South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) grant beneficiaries who are struggling to withdraw their funds from ATMs and retailers due to technical glitches from Postbank. This is particularly worrying as yesterday was allocated for the payment of old age grants and many seniors were forced to return home empty-handed after queuing for hours in the wind, rain and cold. Today is allocated for disability grants, and all indications are that the glitches are persisting, and people are unable to access their funds.
We call on the Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu, to ensure that the problem is immediately fixed to ensure that already vulnerable individuals aren’t plunged deeper into crisis.
The glitches affected beneficiaries with SASSA gold cards. This despite the fact that cards’ expiry dates have been to December 2023 as SASSA and the Postbank failed to renew the gold cards timeously.
The DA has also been informed that the Postbank is currently not renewing any gold cards even though beneficiaries only have four months left in which to receive their new cards and no indication from Postbank or SASSA on whether the expiry dates would be extended yet again.
The Postbank has indicated SASSA gold card holders can access their grant via the South African Post Offices. However, many SAPO branches have closed down across the country due to ANC government incompetence, leaving the few open SAPO branches overwhelmed in the current situation.
Vulnerable elders will spend the night on an empty stomach without guarantees that the glitches would be fixed by tomorrow.
The DA encourages SASSA beneficiaries to ditch the Postbank and open bank accounts at reliable banks that would not leave them stranded without access to their funds.
While the Minister have lately been focused on nefarious schemes to assist comrades, she has woefully failed in her mandate to serve South Africa’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens. It is time she showed some leadership and call Postbank to account for its continued failures of SASSA beneficiaries.
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