As millions of people are sent from pillar to post to renew Sassa cards due to South African Post Office (Sapo) branches closing resulting from bankruptcy, City of Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis is calling on national government to stabilise the social grants service.
In his speech at the City council on Wednesday 26 April, Lewis said community halls have been made available across the city to assist with service delivery.
“So many of our most vulnerable residents – from the frail, to the elderly, to mothers with small children – are being let down by Sassa’s handling of their grants.
“As the post office closes more branches due to bankruptcy, many residents are left without any nearby service points to renew their Sassa cards or to resolve compliance issues blocking payment of their grants.
“We are doing what we can under difficult and often chaotic circumstances through providing venues, helping with queue management, and raising awareness of these service opportunities amid a lack of clear communication from Sassa.”
He added that action, such as extending time for card renewals and cutting red tape, should be taken.
“Part of this solution must include a saving grace for the post office, in the form of private investment, to keep this critical service afloat.”
Getting worse
Meanwhile, in a statement on Thursday 20 April, after a visit to the Grassy Park Civic Centre, Western Cape minister of social development Sharna Fernandez said the Sassa crisis was getting progressively worse.
“In February I met with Sassa management to discuss a laundry list of problems which my team and I picked up during oversight visits at Sassa offices across the province, and from the numerous complaints our office received from grant beneficiaries.
“I had a follow-up meeting with Sassa Western Cape management, with more issues on the agenda, especially given the chaos we witnessed in Grassy Park this week.
“Sassa has informed beneficiaries who are using Postbank issued gold cards, which expire soon, to either replace the card at identified Sapo branches or alternative venues provided by Postbank, or participating retailers.”
However with many Sapo branches closed and a lack of communication about alternative venues, scores of beneficiaries are in limbo.
“Grant beneficiaries who found no joy at Sapo service points in other areas were apparently sent to Grassy Park Civic Centre, which exacerbated the situation leading to even longer queues for the most vulnerable members of our society.
“I have implored Sassa officials to find an urgent solution to assist beneficiaries living in areas where Post Office service points are closed, and who may not want to go the cardless withdrawal route,” said Fernandez.
Mitigation plan
Sassa has outlined a mitigation plan to deal with the replacement of gold Sassa cards as the majority of the 5,9 million beneficiaries in the country, of which 396 903 reside in the Western Cape, need to replace the cards by June.
Fernandez added that communication between Sassa and beneficiaries needs to improve.
“There are elderly beneficiaries, those with disabilities, those living in far-flung rural areas who may have no idea how to go about doing cardless cash withdrawals and are now panicking because they do not know where to replace their cards.
“There seems to be a huge disconnect between Sassa, Sapo and Postbank, an issue which requires urgent attention on a national level.
“I once again call on the national minister of social development, Lindiwe Zulu, as I have been doing continuously for nearly a year, to do her part to assist the most vulnerable.”
Ward 72 councillor Kevin Southgate says poor communication from Sapo has exasperated the issue.
“Since we made the Grassy Park Civic Centre available we are still seeing an influx of people from all over and the problem is the poor communication from Sassa.
“Even yesterday, Thursday 27 April, during a public holiday we received many enquiries.
“People were enquiring whether they would be paid out if their Sassa cards were expired, so it is clear that the communication is poor from Sapo,” said Southgate.
The only places available for card renewal in the area is the Retreat Civic Centre on a Monday and Thursday, the Retreat Post Office and the Grassy Park Civic Centre.
