No end to Sassa problems in sight as post office struggles to cope
When asked about the difficulties, Port Shepstone Post Office officials said only Sassa could comment.
Local social security grant beneficiaries are becoming increasingly frustrated at the Port Shepstone Post Office’s apparent inability to cope with the influx of paperwork which needs to be processed before they can be issued with their new Sassa cards.
This comes after South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) grant beneficiaries were this week turned away, reportedly because the post office system had experienced ‘technical glitches’.
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According to insiders at the post office, staff were under a lot of pressure due to the sharp increase in the volume of administration, verification, and data capturing involved in the issuing of the new Sassa cards.
Problems started after the Department of Social Development decided to phase out Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) and appoint new service providers, including the South African Post Office, to manage grant payments.
With the introduction of the new card system, hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries around the country now have to renew their cards at post offices before the old cards are phased out completely.
One pensioner from Umzumbe said she had already visited the Port Shepstone Post Office twice, only to be told on both occasions that either the system was offline, or there were network problems and she could not be assisted.
“I arrived at 8am and six hours later, I had still not been assisted. I just knew I would be sent home again because they were closing, and that meant I would have to fork out more taxi money to go back yet again.”
She added that she had already spent R80 trying to renew her card in order to access her grant.
Those who had visited the Sassa offices in Port Shepstone fared no better, as they were told they had to go to the post office despite the problems there.
When asked about the difficulties, Port Shepstone Post Office officials said only Sassa could comment.
According to a statement from Sassa, both the post office and Sassa were working tirelessly to clear the technical glitches which have made it difficult for money to be withdrawn, even if it had been deposited by Sassa.
“Our plea to beneficiaries is that they don’t have to necessarily collect their grants on the first day of the month, and that they don’t have to queue in the early hours of the morning at post offices because their money will be available at any hour of the day. They also don’t have to subject themselves to poor weather conditions”, read the statement.
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