The South African Social Security Agency said it was ready to take over the payment of social grants from the company Cash Paymaster Services when its contract expires at the end of this month.
Sassa and the SA Post Office will take over these payments for the October payment cycle from CPS, a subsidiary of the company Net 1.
Sassa spokesperson, Paseka Letsatsi, said in a statement on Thursday that in phasing out CPS at the end of the month, the Social Security Agency will be in full compliance with orders of the Constitutional Court.
“With eighteen days to go before the September payment cycle is concluded, SASSA has already paid over six billion rands to 92% of its beneficiaries this month, which is a clear sign that government will manage to insource the service of grant payments from October going forward,” he said.
“At the moment the bulk of outstanding payments are the ones done in cash at SASSA pay points which will be finished in record time”.
Letsatsi also appealed to beneficiaries to ensure that by the end of September, they have acquired the new SASSA card because the old one is expiring in September 2018.
“The new SASSA card is an improvement of the old card and it does not allow deductions for things such as airtime, loans or prepaid electricity among others. This new card also allows three free cash withdrawals at points of sale, one free withdrawal at the post office per month, free swipes at points of sale and accepted by all ATM’s displaying the VISA sign,” he said.
Letsatsi said these developments coincide with Wednesday’s decision of the Constitutional Court to dismiss the SASSA application for an order declaring the actions of CPS as contempt of court.
He said SASSA took this stand after CPS and other Net1 company employees had been reported by community members for disruptive behavior at its pay points.
“The court did not award any costs. SASSA, however, accepts the decision of the Concourt and finds comfort in the fact that the CPS contract is coming to an end this month and that a significant number of beneficiaries have managed to acquire the new gold SASSA card,” he said.
