Sassa Suspends ATM Grant Payment Option For December 2022

In today’s Sassa news – The SASSAS Support Group has been in contact with us at Postbank to understand their reasons for suspending specific grant payment methods. The cash crisis in South Africa is finally over, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to throw caution to the wind. For this month, it’s important that Sassa beneficiaries make use of the other payment methods available as well as receiving their rations on time.

The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has requested that beneficiaries collect their grant payments from retailers for the month of December. Sassa has requested that beneficiaries use the SAPS L1079 form to request payment.

Postbank has suspended its 24/7 ATM service. Users of the service will now have to wait for 3 to 5 working days for cash withdrawals and deposits.

Postbank’s decision was made following the recent increase in card fraud. To avoid this fraudulent activity, Sassa grant beneficiaries are advised to collect their grants from the following retailers:

• Shoprite
• Checkers
• Pick n Pay
• USave
• Boxer
• Spar
• OK

Postbank reported in Parliament that they had to implement measures after experiencing card fraud, since then they have implemented measures and discovered that it took place via ATMs. Due to these measures they were able to detect and raise a red flag on any other transactions found similar to those fraudulent transactions and stop them from taking place.

Postbank spokesperson Dr Bongani Diako stated there were indications of malicious activity within the company which is currently being investigated. “Safe to say that the systems detected sufficiently enough information for us to make the call that we should move away from the payments over the ATMs,” said Diako.

Sassa is apologising to grant recipients who have been inconvenienced by the change from cash payment at ATMs to the collection of grants from retailers. The change was announced on Wednesday, and according to Sassa’s spokesperson, it has been reported through social media by many people.

Postbank states that the ATM grant payment method will only be suspended for the month of December. Their team has continued to make progress in securing their system and getting it back online.

Sassa hopes to be operational again as soon as possible, and once ATM payments are back in operation, all Sassa beneficiaries will be informed via the media or social media platforms..