By Staff Reporter
Social Development Sisisi Tolashe has assured Parliament that the termination of the Master Service Agreement (MSA) between the South African Post Office (SAPO) and the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) at the end of September, will not impact the payment of grants.
SASSA told the Portfolio Committee on Social Development that the resources that were allocated to the Postbank for the infrastructure for mobile cash withdrawal services wiould now be used to roll out its digitisation of its business processes, including a biometric verification of all new grant applications that will start on Monday.
The minister said that SASSA entered into a contractual relationship with the SAPO in 2018 after the Constitutional Court ordered government to terminate the unlawful Cash Paymaster Service (CPS) contract.
The liquidation of the SAPO in 2023 necessitated the closure of costly cash pay points and over-the-counter services, and the contract was ceded to Postbank.
In 2019, the SA Reserve Bank limited the Postbank from issuing new bank accounts until it dealt with the replacement of the SASSA gold cards. These were the main elements of the MSA, therefore, the withdrawal of these services rendered the MSA no longer serving its original intent.
Tolashe said grant payments would continue being disbursed through all the banks operating in South Africa, including Post Bank, as was the current arrangement.
“The main interest of the committee is to ensure that there is no interruption of the payment of grants to the three million beneficiaries who bank with Postbank, post the termination of the MSA,” said committee chairperson Bridget Masango.
The committee resolved to conduct an oversight visit to rural communities to assess the impact of the closure of the cash pay points services to grant beneficiaries.
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