- Social grant beneficiaries using the
Postbank /SASSA gold card have not been able to withdraw their December grant payments from ATMs. Postbank and SASSA say this follows attacks on the network by criminals.- Beneficiaries have been advised to withdraw grants from selected retail outlets instead.
Postbank says it will will let social grant beneficiaries know when ATM transactions via the SASSA gold card are working again.
A mother of three from Delft,
Xoliswa Mxabo says she had made several unsuccessful attempts at ATMs to withdraw the Child Support Grants for two of her children, aged ten and four. She then decided to go to
"I had to put my groceries back. It's embarrassing," she said.
She had borrowed money to travel from Delft to Mowbray on Monday to first drop-off her CV at several companies before attempting to draw her grant money.
Mxabo is among millions of beneficiaries who use
According to
In a joint statement, SASSA and
"Following extensive investigations, we have now uncovered a series of network attacks by criminal elements determined to commit systematic ATM card fraud-related crimes on
Last week, GroundUp reported that
On Wednesday, GroundUp visited the SASSA branch in
Delft resident Nosiphiwo Mzayifani said she borrowed money to take a taxi to the SASSA office in
Her SASSA card was declined at the Shoprite in Delft. "I left my groceries there and took my children home.," she said.
She returned an hour later to try again. She checked her balance, and the account was empty. "The children don't understand what is happening when you leave the shop with no food,'" she said.
"I planned on buying food and essentials for my child as I do every month. I don't know what I'm going to do," Carolissen said.
Shoprite's media team told GroundUp that its store in Delft "received an increased influx when grant recipients turned to our stores following SASSA's unannounced temporary suspension of ATM grant withdrawals".
"We continue to assist with withdrawals as cash becomes available. We apologise to grant recipients for the current delayed process. Grant recipients can also conveniently switch their SASSA grant to Shoprite's Money Market Account free of charge, which will improve the customer experience."
SASSA spokesperson Paseka Letsatsi said social grants have all been paid into beneficiary bank accounts, including those held at the
"SASSA and
Letsatsi said
When asked why some beneficiaries still could not access their money from retail stores,
He explained that when beneficiaries make attempts to withdraw their grants from an ATM, the system still records the transaction despite the fact that no money was withdrawn successfully. When the beneficiaries then attempt to withdraw their grants at a retailer, it shows "insufficient funds or a balance that the beneficiary expects".
"We have isolated these cases and our team is effecting reversals of these funds," said Diako. He said they will announce when all the reversals have been made.
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