Stores in the Pick n Pay Group were expected to form part of the new payment points for the SASSA SRD Grant.
Mitchell’s Plain residents, who receive the SRD grant, stated that they had “high hopes” of receiving their grants at their local stores but after the store’s system crashed many were sent home empty-handed.
One of the recipients stated that after waiting in a long queue, she was told that their system was offline and when she returned an hour later she received her payment.
The Pick n Pay Group handles a few other grant payments on behalf of SASSA, such as disability, child care and pension grant. However, some retailers state that keeping additional funding on their premises poses a risk, as it may make them targets for robberies.
Although the process to collect SRD grants may have caused some issues, community leaders welcome the move.
Retailers were introduced as SASSA paypoints in the hopes of reducing the queues outside post offices around South Africa.
