600,000 beneficiaries were affected by Postbank glitch, with some still yet to be paid

About 600,000 of the most vulnerable in society were left destitute, desperate and hungry last week after a technical glitch in Postbank’s social grant payment system, with some elderly still yet to receive their money.

This was revealed during a briefing by Postbank, social development and the communications department on Thursday.

Postbank, which distributes social grants on behalf of the government, confirmed the system difficulties last week left grant recipients unable to get cash from ATM, the Post Office, and retailers.

How many people were affected?

The issue affected approximately 600 000 beneficiaries, which translates to about 10% of the 5,3 million beneficiaries that are paid their social grants via Postbank’s SASSA Gold Cards monthly. 

Communications Minister Mondli Gungubele said most payments had now been made but admitted some of the elderly were still waiting to get their pensions. 

“Unfortunately, though, due to the automated reversal not working on the 5th and 6th, a number of clients, mainly the elderly, were unable to access their funds for a prolonged period of time as a manual process had to be implemented to credit their accounts,” said Gungubele. 

No guarantees it won’t happen again

He said the glitch which hampered their service was a result of a systems upgrade the bank is introducing to provide a better service. The system challenges led to the transactions of beneficiaries resulting in ‘transaction incomplete errors’ because of the system’s communication timeouts, he explained.

Postbank CEO Nikki Mbengashe said the bank could not promise the glitch would not happen again.

READ ALSO: Postbank board resigns over ‘hostile and oppressive’ Gungubele

What if I am still struggling to get my grant?

Gungubele urged those still struggling to get their money to contact Postbank.

“Government assures South Africa and social grants beneficiaries that all social grants beneficiaries that have not yet received their social grants payments will be paid their money in full. We encourage our clients who are still encountering challenges with accessing their grant money and require support to contact the Postbank call centre,” said Gungubele.

Gungubele apologised on behalf of government, with Postbank’s Mbengashe saying she “personally relates to what happened”.

“We are sorry, we promise everyone who applied for their grant will get their money. Even if we say we are sorry, it is not enough, we recognise that. I personally relate to what happened as I was raised up by a mother who relied on a Sassa grant”.

‘Government has not failed’

Despite calls for her to intervene when the glitch was first noted, Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu denied the government had failed.

“We have not been failing to pay grants. What might happen is these technical challenges. We want to keep improving our systems. What is important is what we do about these challenges.”

This was not the first time Postbank has faced technical challenges that left social grant recipients impoverished. A technical glitch in January left thousands stranded. Last year, Postbank confirmed it suffered a cybercrime attack incident resulting in a financial loss of approximately R90m.

READ ALSO: Sassa pensions: Ministers must tackle systemic flaws at Postbank.