SASSA-SAPO cards will still be valid after March

The trend of ‘fake news’ and unreliable spreading of information recently centred around beneficiaries of the various SASSA grants. The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) released a statement in hopes of putting rumours to rest that beneficiaries would be unable to use their South African Post Office (SASSO-SAPO) cards after 31 March.

Social media posts were sharing false information saying that on 31 March, the SASSA-SAPO cards would be expiring and beneficiaries would no longer be able to use them to collect their grants. This comes after SASSA’s 2019 discovery that the master keys that are used to encrypt and decrypt pins and card information had been compromised. The SA Reserve Bank then came to the conclusion that all the SASSA cards would need to be replaced.

SASSA put these rumours to rest by saying that while all SASSA cards must be replaced, as indicated by the South African Reserve Bank, there is no set deadline for the replacements and information relating to replacing the cards will be made available in due course. “SASSA clients have the right to choose their payment method and there is nothing that forces clients who are currently being paid through the South African Post Office (SAPO) to change to bank accounts. They will still be paid using the SASSA-SAPO cards beyond April 2020,” read the SASSA statement.

SASSA Grants will be paid out on the following days:
• Older persons grants – 3 February
• Disability grants – 4 February
• All other grants – 5 February

SASSA would also like to remind grant beneficiaries that they do not need to withdraw their funds the day they are paid out. Once the grant has been paid into an account (including the SASSA/SAPO accounts) the funds can be accessed at any point during the month.