By KEDIBONE MOLAETSI
21 February 2025- The Democratic Alliance (DA) in North West said it has written a letter to the North West MEC for Social Development, Sussana Dantjie, as well as the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), requesting urgent clarification on the extremely short list of service points identified, where SASSA beneficiaries can obtain their new Postbank black cards.
The DA Spokesperson on Social Development in the North West Hendriëtte van Huyssteen said just like in the rest of the country, thousands of SASSA beneficiaries in the North West are required to transition from gold cards to Postbank black cards by 20 March 2025. Van Huyssteen said, despite the urgency of this transition, only 11 service points have been designated across the entire province.
“This limited number of locations is entirely insufficient given the vastness of the North West, creating financial and logistical challenges for many beneficiaries, particularly the elderly, disabled, and those living in rural areas.
“We demand additional service points to be introduced before the deadline to improve accessibility and that adequate measures are put in place to ensure that all beneficiaries can transition to the new card on time,” she said.
Van Huyssteen further said they also request that mobile units be used to ease the logistical challenges on the beneficiaries in remote areas. She added that the government has a duty to administer resources justly and ensure that all beneficiaries have equal access to their grants without undue hardship.
“The DA remains committed to advocating for fairness and dignity for all,” said Van Huyssteen.
The Minister of Social Development, Nokuzola Tolashe has vowed to monitor the successful implementation of the card migration from the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) Gold card to Postbank Black card, whilst ensuring no beneficiary is disadvantaged. Tolashe said the process to migrate SASSA beneficiaries to Postbank has been giving her sleepless nights as it directly affects SASSA beneficiaries.
“SASSA has been caught in the crossfire on decisions made by Postbank and the South African Reserve Bank. However, our department and SASSA could not be bystanders, as a result, intervention had to be made by our department, SASSA, and endeavour to assist Postbank and our beneficiaries to ensure that they receive their grants.
“This process is directly Postbank responsibility and unfortunately our department and SASSA is at the receiving end and blamed for the crisis. Hence, we went further to emphasise the need to strengthen the collaboration of Postbank to ensure SASSA support the successful migration to beneficiaries,” said Tolashe.
Meanwhile, the Chairperson of Portfolio Committee on Social Development, Bridget Masango said: “We raised serious concerns about the way in which the project was conceptualised and managed from the start and communication was inadequate.
“We also expressed displeasure about the inconvenience beneficiaries have suffered due to the long queues and slow services, calling on the Postbank to redouble its efforts to ensure that all beneficiaries are treated with dignity and are helped expeditiously.”
The Guardian 