Question NW2465 to the Minister of Social Development
14 December 2020 - NW2465
Masango, Ms B to ask the Minister of Social Development
(a) On what date does the SA Social Security Agency (SASSA) intend to institutionalise the grant payment system as prescribed by the South African Social Security Agency Act, Act 9 of 2004, and (b) what steps does her department intend to take to protect SASSA from the impending challenges at the SA Post Office?
Reply:
a) SASSA has already assumed responsibility for the payment of social grants. All social grants are processed and extracted for payment off Socpen, which is the mainframe system owned by SASSA, but hosted and maintained by SITA.
The payment of social grants is done by SASSA. Each and every social grant beneficiary has a bank account, into which the grants are paid on a monthly basis. The bank account may be with a commercial bank or Postbank through the SASSA card. The payments all follow the standard bank processes to credit the accounts. Once the account has been credited, the social grant has been paid.
The contract SASSA has with the South African Post Office is for the distribution of the grant payments, through various channels, which include bank ATMs, retailers, post offices and cash pay points.
b) The Department of Social Development and SASSA have been engaging both the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies and the South African Post Office to address the challenges in the Post Office environment. The risks are being actively addressed with the political and administrative leadership, to ensure that this does not impact on the distribution of social grants.