Concerns over social grant payments from April 2017

According to reports, no clear arrangement has been made for the payment of social grants when the South African Social Services Agency’s (SASSA) contract with Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) ends in March.

With lack of clarity on the new system, those who are involved in the process of paying the recipients are concerned. Pick n Pay is one of the places where the recipients can get their grant money. Richard van Rensburg, deputy CEO of PnP, told Justmoney: “We provide for SASSA grant payouts in our stores as a service to those customers who depend on social grants. The cost to us of providing the facility actually exceeds the fee we are paid by the banks.

“We have communicated to SASSA our concerns about the new system, both directly and through the Consumer Goods Council. We are planning to meet SASSA again in January to understand their plans in more detail, as we know how much this matters to many of our customers.”

When asked about how it may affect them, Shoprite responded: “The Shoprite Group is concerned about the apparent absence of arrangements for grant payments to be made in 2017 and feels it is wrong to expose vulnerable people to even more risk.

“The Group has so far received no information from SASSA about alternative arrangements after its contract with Cash Paymaster Services comes to an end.”

Despite several attempts, SASSA was unable to be reached for commentary prior to publication. However, in a report, a spokesperson for SASSA stated that negotiations through the media were not an option, and that SASSA has channels through which such negations are made.