• No technical problems are expected with SASSA’s payment system this month, says the social security agency.
• This follows a series of technical issues faced by SASSA and the Postbank last month that caused around 600 000 beneficiaries to be unable to draw their grants.
• SASSA says that it will monitor payments this week in the “eventuality” of a technical problem faced during payments.

October’s social grants from the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) will be paid out to beneficiaries on time, according to a branch of the agency in Mpumalanga.

It adds that beneficiaries should not expect any technical issues this month. In September, the Postbank experienced what it described as a “glitch” related to the payment of grants. Many beneficiaries were unable to withdraw their grants from ATMs and retailers using their SASSA Gold Cards due to this issue.

The issue was later revealed to have been caused by an error during a system migration. The Postbank was forced to migrate to a new payment system because it allegedly defaulted in paying the previous payment service provider.

Around 600 000 SASSA beneficiaries were unable to withdraw their grants early in September due to this system error. Thousands more were still unable to receive their grants at the tail-end of the month even when the agency claimed that all beneficiaries were paid and that the technical issue had been resolved.

In October, SASSA, as per SA News, says that the elderly can receive their funding from 3rd October, disability grants will be paid from 4th October and children grants will be paid from 5th October.

Notwithstanding any technical problems, beneficiaries should be able to withdraw their grants using all available methods, including through Gold Cards at ATMs, or at retailers like Pick n Pay and Shoprite, as well as through SASSA offices or Post Offices.

“Social grant beneficiaries have a right to choose a method of payment of their choice, freely. The forms to make a choice are available at the nearest SASSA offices,” the agency says.

It adds that SASSA staff will be stationed at South African Post Office branches across the country to assist beneficiaries and monitor the payment of grants.

“The monitoring will be conducted for the first three payment days and they will assist any beneficiary that may be experiencing system payment-related challenges or non-payment due to failed bank verification and/or pending bank verification,” the agency explains.

“In the eventuality of an unexpected non-payment [this] will be escalated to Postbank if related to a system glitch, and be sorted out as quickly as possible,” it concludes.