Cape Town – The SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) has apologised for challenges encountered in replacing expired cards.
The challenges have been faced by grant recipients when trying to replace their expired gold card.
In a statement, Sassa said that about 5.9 million social grant recipients transact through the gold cards, with the majority set to expire in June.
“Clients are urged to check the expiry date of their cards. All client payments will be processed as normal, and funds are safely stored in the client’s bank accounts.
“To avoid non-access to these funds in the clients bank accounts, recipients have the option to either replace the Sassa gold card at the identified post office branches or alternative venue provided by Postbank, a participating retailer, or make use of the cardless withdrawal option provided by Postbank.”
Sassa said that clients could also use the services of another bank and due to this, clients would need to request a change of payment method at their nearest local office or alternative venue that Sassa will make available specifically for the project.
“Social grants recipients who choose to get their social grants payment through their personal bank account must bring proof of bank account received from the bank or three months bank statement and proof of Identity.
“Beneficiaries are advised to request the change of method of payment once in a month.”
Sassa said that it also intended to increase its capacity to enable faster processing of the requests for change of method of payment and will be extending its office operating hours to accommodate any increase by clients.
Cape Times