The1st of August marks a historic milestone for the partnership between the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and South African Post Office (SAPO) regarding the payment of social grants. This was the first day that SAPO piloted the takeover of cash payment of social grants at pay points, a function previously performed by Cash Payment Services (CPS). This comes at the back of technical glitches that were experienced during the July payment cycle.

“I am pleased to report that the August payment cycle went without any major incidents in all of yesterday’s pilots sites spread throughout all the nine provinces. SAPO made 100% cash payments at all its pilot sites. This modest achievement can be attributed to the expertise that was pooled from among major role players in the banking, retail and ICT industries, as well as the long hours of hard work put in by SASSA and SAPO staff,” said Susan Shabangu, Minister of Social Development.

The system has been optimised to the extent that it can handle the number of transactions in conformity with the standards of the banking industry.  This is the single most significant reason why there were no glitches in spite the system being under immense pressure.

Minister Shabangu also pointed out that “The smooth manner in which payments were done yesterday points out the readiness of SASSA and SAPO in  completely taking over the payment of social grants once the CPS contract expires at the end of September as directed by the Constitutional Court,”

A few incidents were experienced where beneficiaries with new SASSA cards attempted to collect their grant monies at pay points  but were redirected to ATMs and participating merchants. Beneficiaries are made aware that the new SASSA card functions the same way as any bank card with a PIN and does not make use of biometrics as a method of verification.

Beneficiaries who previously used PIN to access their grants using the old SASSA card are requested to collect their grants from ATMs and retailers. As from today this category of beneficiaries will no longer be served at pay points because the pay point use finger prints as a method of verification.

The new card also allows for 3 free cash withdrawals at points of sale, one free withdrawal at the post office per month, free swipes at points of sale and it is accepted by all ATM’s displaying the VISA sign.