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SASSA Causes Panic With Expired Gold Cards and Broken Verification System

Dear Editor

The DA has been inundated by worried South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) beneficiaries who fear that they will not receive their social grants, either because their SASSA Gold Cards are set to stop working at the end of February or because they are unable to verify their details for the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant as SASSA’s verification system has been temporarily suspended.

The DA will write to Social Development Minister Sisisi Tolashe to request that no Gold Cards expire before all of them have been replaced, and that interim verification measures be introduced as a matter of urgency to ensure that no deserving recipients are left in the cold due to SASSA failures.

The DA further encourages SASSA Gold Card users to switch from Postbank to other reputable and reliable banks to receive their grants.

The switch to the Black Cards has been chaotic, with SASSA beneficiaries often being sent from pillar to post just to return home empty-handed. This causes untold stress on the recipients and also eats away at their meagre finances. Minister Tolashe needs to account to Parliament on the number of SASSA beneficiaries still reliant on their Gold Cards to receive their grants, as well as how many recipients have switched over the Black Cards or opened accounts at reliable banks. She also needs to account regarding the legitimate SRD grant recipients being locked out of their grants due to the verification system suspension.

SASSA has always caused as much harm as good to the people its mandated to serve – South Africa’s poorest and most vulnerable people. While people cannot survive without their grants, the inhumane suffering constantly inflicted on them in an effort to access their funds is beyond callous. While the DA supports and welcomes the eradication of fraudulent payments, it must be done in a way that does not harm legitimate recipients.

Regards

Bridget Masango MP
DA Spokesperson on Social Development

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