Elderly in Lekwa are forced to wait two days for pension payout
Many Sassa grant beneficiaries were again left frustrated and in despair after Post Bank’s malfunctioning system stalled their money payouts for days.
Elderly residents waited in long queues for their money for two days because of a system glitch at the Standerton Post office.
Solomon Nkosi (75) says he experiences such delays in getting his old age pension almost every month.
“I am tired of complaining. I now come here on the second day because it is the norm that pension payouts take two days.
“It doesn’t matter whether you go to Shoprite or the Post Office – it is just the same,” he said.
Another pensioner said as more time goes by, more system glitches are experienced.
“This is becoming a nightmare. Do they even have people to fix these system glitches?
“Sometimes the queue does not move. We get stuck in one place for hours in cold, rain or heat. A lot of us have medications to take. No one cares,” said Johanna Mosito (68).
The system glitches issue is not new. Many Sassa grant beneficiaries were left frustrated and in despair after Post Bank’s malfunctioning system stalled their money payouts for days.
This month in Standerton, pensioners experienced the same problems and some went home empty-handed and angry.
Martha Ntuli had been in the queue since 05:00 in the morning, but she, and other pensioners, were not told why they had been waiting for so long.
“It is tiring. Yesterday we waited from 06:00 until 17:00 without being informed why. The communication is poor.
“We just figure things out for ourselves, go home in the afternoon and come back the next day, hoping we will get our money in time.
“We spend a lot of money commuting and buying things during the day, such as food, because we have to take our medication.
“Other elderly people really cannot come because they are too old to be standing in long queues for hours,” said a disgruntled Ntuli.
Some elderly noted they had to borrow money to commute on public transport and the more their old age pension is delayed, the more debt they accumulate.
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Zacharia Makhubedu told the Standerton Advertiser that he has grandchildren whose mothers have died and he now has to provide for them.
The more his pension payout gets delayed, the more the children suffer in terms of their lunchboxes to school, transport money and other household things.
“We are taken for a ride here. The communication is bad among the post-bank staff.
“We are not told what is wrong and how long it will take for it to be fixed. If I was told in time that money payouts might be delayed, I would have been able to take other measures to see how my household would survive for the next couple of days while I am waiting for my payout,” said Makhubedu.
The Standerton Advertiser sent the Post Office a series of questions that remained unanswered at the time of going to print.
