The South African Social Security Agency’s (Sassa) Social Relief of Distress grant recipients have been complaining about not receiving their grant payments for both November and December. This is an issue that Daddy Mabe from PayTheGrants has described as beyond unethical.
However, acting Sassa Spokesperson, Moabi Pitsi has said that 90% of beneficiaries received their grant payment for December 2022. This comes after Sassa committed to ensuring that payments would be made by 3 January 2023. The SRD grant currently has approximately 5 million recipients according to Pitsi.
Beneficiaries have also been encouraged to make use of all the available methods of collecting their grant to speed up the process. These include the use of ATMs, selected retail outlets and the Postbank.
Meanwhile, Sassa SRD grant recipients and Gold Card holders also experienced delays in receiving their grant payments. This was due to a cyber security attack on the PostBank; Civil Society group PayTheGrants again called attention to the issue.
Sassa said that there was some Cyber attack or something on the Post Bank and that is the reason why they never got their money. Some beneficiaries did receive the money. Some up until today haven't received a cent.
The Post Bank has since issued an apology, saying the system is now back online pointing to external security challenges. The PostBank has also appealed to beneficiaries to ignore rumours that the Sassa Gold Card will be changed.
R350 grant recipients have also been advised to be on the lookout for scammers who target them by using false information to lure them into losing their grant payments. The agency’s spokesperson also emphasised that beneficiaries must pass the Means Test to qualify for the R350 grant.
