Postbank has announced plans to expand its service points for replacing SASSA Gold Cards with the new Postbank Black Cards from just 16 to 70 locations across the Western Cape. This commitment came during recent presentations to the Portfolio Committee on Social Development, where officials discussed the urgency of improving access for social grant beneficiaries.
Initially, Postbank had set up only 27 sites, but only 16 became operational. Unfortunately, these sites have not always been open, leading to chronic issues such as long queues and staff shortages. Jaco Londt, the MEC of Social Development, expressed his concerns about the impact of these problems on vulnerable residents: "We have been repeatedly calling for a rapid expansion of services after seeing chaos across the province as SASSA grant beneficiaries desperately tried to get their cards replaced before the first deadline," Londt stated.
With approximately 11% of total SASSA beneficiaries residing in the Western Cape, Londt noted significant discrepancies, stating, "Western Cape's grant beneficiaries make up roughly 11% of total SASSA beneficiaries, but the province was only allocated 7% of the Postbank service points.” This shortfall has resulted in the Western Cape experiencing 12% higher outstanding card migrations compared to the national average.
Due to the high demand, it was reported on average; each service point was expected to cater to nearly 24,000 beneficiaries, whereas the national average was only about 8,500. Londt has called for guarantees to reach isolated communities: "We need assurance beneficiaries living in rural areas are reached by Postbank, whether through its roaming teams or the addition of new sites.”
Importantly, Londt also suggested extending the March 20 deadline for card replacements, asserting, "This entire situation is causing unnecessary and quite frankly cruel and callous anxiety for many of the most vulnerable residents of the province.”
Meanwhile, issues related to accessibility continue to plague beneficiaries. Black Sash, an advocacy organization, revealed troubling incidents involving beneficiaries requiring extensive travel to replace their cards. One case involved over 11,000 individuals from Grabouw lacking local facilities for card replacements. Another notable incident described unplanned journeys: one beneficiary had to travel over 200km only to find the designated facility closed.
"We recognize this rollout is turning out to be more of a crisis for beneficiaries," warned Black Sash spokesperson Oliver Meth, reflecting on how people are forced to travel significant distances, often encountering unnecessary difficulties such as being turned away from locations falsely listed as operational.
It's been reported beneficiaries have been arriving as early as 1 AM to secure their place at these service points, facing the threat of extortion along the way. The frustrations surrounding the rollout of implementing the new cards have grown to the point where many are doubtful about Postbank's ability to meet their self-imposed deadline of March 20. This deadline is significant because after it passes, SASSA Gold Cards will be disabled, preventing use for any transactions.
"Beneficiaries will be able to perform all transactions with their SASSA Gold Cards during the payment run scheduled for March 4-6, but these cards will be disabled after 5 PM on March 20," stated Nikki Mbengashe, CEO of Postbank. She emphasized, "Any funds balance due to beneficiaries will be stored safely and accessible through alternative methods of payment, even if they miss the deadline for switching to black cards".
Black Sash has emphasized the need for improved communication strategies to inform beneficiaries where and how to retrieve their new cards and has called for the extension of the current deadline.
“With the deadline looming, beneficiaries are feeling anxious about not receiving the funds they rely on. They’re unnecessarily spending money to travel to get their cards replaced,” Meth concluded.
This multifaceted crisis amid the card replacement process highlights deep systemic flaws and raises serious questions about the government’s capacity to manage service access for the most vulnerable Here’s to hoping Postbank’s planned expansion to 70 sites will ease some of these struggles and provide the necessary support for Western Cape beneficiaries.