Post Office has announced it will no longer pay the R350 social relief of distress grant through its branches . The grants were only introduced in July, after months of debate about who should administer them.
South Africa’s contract tracing system continues to be an ongoing failure and data around the outbreak is questionable. The Post Office cites slow processing times and the high number of stolen grants as the reason they are backing out.
More than R1 billion has been stolen by fraudsters, including government officials, SASSA officials, and banks employees. The Post Office will no longer provide a way for people to access their grants.
The Post Office has announced it will no longer pay the R350 social relief of distress grant through its branches
The Post Office has announced it will no longer pay the R350 social relief of distress grant through its branches.
According to a statement issued by the Post Office on Sunday, beneficiaries will now have to get the grant from the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and not at a post office branch.
“The Post Office would like to advise all current recipients of SASSA SRD payments that as of 1 May 2022 these payments will be processed through SASSA channels and not at any Post Office cash acceptance point. This has been agreed between the SA Post Office and SASSA,” read part of the statement.
It said that those who receive their grants via ATM or bank account will continue receiving them in this manner. The post office had been criticised for excluding people who did not have bank accounts from receiving their grants. These people were forced to queue for hours in order to receive their money from post offices which were ill-equipped to deal with large volumes of people.
South Africa’s contract tracing system continues to be an ongoing failure and data around the outbreak is questionable.
The national mail carrier said that this will help alleviate long queues at its branches, with South Africans having several other options to collect the money.
“The new round of applications for the R350 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant has opened. The application app now includes an option where beneficiaries can receive their grant from any Pick n Pay, Boxer, Shoprite, Checkers or Usave merchant. The SA Post Office strongly advises beneficiaries to include this option: Post Office branches will no longer pay out SRD grants.
“If you have already reapplied for your SRD grant, you can still select the option to collect your grant from any Pick n Pay, Boxer, Shoprite, Checkers or Usave. Log on to srd.sassa.gov.za and respond to the security SMS you receive on your phone. You can then include merchants in your application and submit the updated application,” it said.
The post office noted beneficiaries must have their own cell number to withdraw their grant at supermarkets. It advised those without their own number to purchase a SIM card and use that number to apply for a grant.
“Beneficiaries will be assisted to reset card pins at the cash pay points. The card can then be used at merchants at ATMs.
“SASSA beneficiaries who receive old age, disability or child grants can still collect their grants from any Post Office branch.”
Data published by the Department of Social Development at the start of May shows almost half of all South Africans now rely on some financial support from the government.
The department said that about 31% of the South African population relies on social grants – which include everything from disability to childcare.
However, there are approximately 10 million beneficiaries who depend on the monthly R350 special Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant alone. This increases the number of South Africans who rely on social transfers to about 47%, it said.
