Grant Beneficiaries in the Western Cape (WC) is encouraged to switch their South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) gold cards to Postbank black cards as soon as possible.
Speaking to VOC News, grant beneficiaries shared some of their concerns around the challenges they experience when trying to obtain the new cards.
“Cape Town has a few sites to do the switch. It is costly to get to these sites. These sites are far from many homes and the queues are long and then the system is often offline,” a grant recipient stressed.
“It is sad that our elderly people are treated like this. There seems to be a disconnect between officials and those who broadcast the news on media platforms, it is like they all work for different entities,” another voiced.
Meanwhile another person shared some positive news, stating that her experience was not all that bad.
“I went with my sister this morning to the Sassa office in Wynberg, she’s a pensioner. She went to sort out her Sassa card. I just want to let the people know they must just go with a copy of your ID and proof of your Capitec account or bank statement. Then you go there and fill in one form by them outside. There’s a man outside who check if your forms are in order than staple it together in the box it goes, and you done. We took no longer than an hour,” she added.
Speaking on VOC Breakfast on Monday, Bongani Diako Postbank spokesperson said in the WC only 30% of grant beneficiaries successfully switched to the new black cards.
“We had no choice but to extend the deadline to accommodate grant beneficiaries. We note that there have been a lot of challenges to beneficiaries, and we are hoping to have the issues resolved soon. We have considered all avenues and have come to a collective decision to not only extend the deadline, but to also work on bettering the system we have in place. We are looking at unlocking more areas to accommodate beneficiaries for a smoother transition from gold cards to black cards,” he added.
Beneficiaries have been given more time to switch from their gold cards to the black Postbank card, according to Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi. The deadline has been moved from February 28 to March 20.
Listen to full audio below:
