Question NW1378 to the Minister of Social Development
16 May 2022 - NW1378
Tafeni, Ms N to ask the Minister of Social Development
What steps has she taken in order to initiate the upgrade of the 25-year old computer system of the SA Social Security Agency, which crashes on a frequent basis?
Reply:
It is important to note that, despite downtime being registered against the system, the Social Pensions System (SocPen) has always been able to pay SASSA beneficiaries each month without fail.
The system had downtime related challenges which have been resolved since 15 March 2022. The system was continuously monitored since then and has been stable with no downtime being required. However, periodically downtime was caused by external factors such as load shedding or network related matters, which are dealt with on an individual, per occurrence basis. It usually also just affects a certain location and not the whole system.
A firm decision was taken to replace the system with a modern, progressive and technologically advanced system, which can be fully integrated with current SASSA systems and technologies.
In this regard SASSA is busy developing a roadmap to replace the old mainframe legacy system. The system replacement is amongst others, based on industry comparative studies that will guide and benchmark what other government and agencies are using for government social security benefits distribution and disbursement. By the end of the second quarter, the roadmap will be finalised.