• The Post Office, Postbank and SASSA branches around the country will begin phasing out cash withdrawals for SASSA grants from January 2024.
• By April 2024, beneficiaries will no longer be able to withdraw their SASSA grants at these locations.
• Instead beneficiaries will have to use their gold cards at ATMs and retailers to withdraw their grants.

South Africa’s embattled Post Office is set to enact a major change for South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) grant beneficiaries. Post Office branches around the country will no longer allow for cash withdrawals and services at cash payment points from 31st March 2024 as these services will be phased out.

The phasing out will also affect Postbank branches and SASSA branches, as beneficiaries will have to rely on other channels such as withdrawals at ATMs and at retailers like Shoprite and Pick n Pay.

The removal of the cash withdrawals at these branches, which have long been used by SASSA beneficiaries to receive their grants, has been driven by a combination of safety concerns from escalating cash-in-transit robberies and capacity challenges, the Post Office says. The announcement was initially made in 2018, and the process will officially begin in January when beneficiaries might begin not being able to withdraw cash at these locations.

“Post Office branches will continue to assist SASSA beneficiaries with non-cash payments such as card reinsurances, PIN resets, printing of statements, and other such non-cash services. What will be discontinued is only the payment of cash to beneficiaries. So, the Post Office branch services will continue but only for non-cash transactions,” explained Bongani Diako, Postbank spokesperson.

According to Diako, who spoke to eNCA, only two percent of grant recipients still use cash withdrawals at Post Offices and cash pay points to receive their grants. The Postbank is now advising these individuals to “join the remainder 98 percent of SASSA beneficiaries” by withdrawing from ATMs, retailers and other channels.

However, beneficiaries have had to deal with technical problems affecting these other channels in the past. An issue with SASSA gold cards in September this year resulted in the inability of thousands of beneficiaries to receive their grants on time as the cards stopped working at ATMs and retailers – they only worked at Post Offices branches.

If this technical problem occurs again after 31st March 2024, SASSA beneficiaries will not be able to withdraw their grants anywhere.

Beneficiaries will still be able to receive SASSA cards from Post Offices, and do PIN resets for these cards. They will also be able to print grant statements. Basically, all the non-cash services will still remain available for SASSA beneficiaries at Post Offices.

The Post Office is currently undergoing business rescue after posting a R2.2 billion loss in the 2022/2023 financial year. According to a News24 report, the entity will close 420 loss-making branches and retrench 6 000 of its 11 000 employees as part of its business rescue plans. These plans also include a R3.8 billion bailout from government.