The South African Postbank (SAPO) confirmed that South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) gold cards will remain valid and fully operational while the new cards are being rolled out.
Every month, Sassa distributes over 18 million permanent grant payments, including the Older Persons pension grant, Disability grant, War Veterans grant, Care Dependency grant, Foster Child grant, Child Support grant, Child Support grant Top-Up and Grant-in-aid.
Beneficiaries of these grants use their Sassa gold cards to collect money and make transactions when purchasing goods or services.
In September, Postbank announced that the new black Mzansi Debit Card will replace the Sassa gold card.
Postbank spokesperson, Bongani Diako assured grant beneficiaries that all Sassa gold cards remain fully operational until the rollout of Sassa Black cards is completed.
Gold Card beneficiaries in areas where we have not yet started issuing Black Cards need not be concerned as we will be taking the cards to where they live in every part of the country. Their Gold Cards will continue to work until we issue them with new Black Cards.
Diako called on beneficiaries to ignore information that stated that Sassa gold cards would lose their functionality. Several grant beneficiaries have reportedly been told to change their Sassa grant payment method to ensure they receive future grant payments.
So, they must ignore any conflicting information, including any advice that they must change their payment method.
The spokesperson said the new Sassa cards have enhanced security features and are compliant with updated banking standards, providing a more secure and efficient method for receiving grants.
It is EMV-compliant with the updated EMV (Europay, Mastercard and Visa) standards which is a standard compliance required from all banks to replace cards after a certain period.
Postbank has not set a date for the completion of the transition to the new cards.
The transition will be completed once every Gold Card has been replaced.
