SASSA Releases Schedule For Cash Pay Points Closures: Sassa announced at the end of 2023 a major change which concerns beneficiaries who receive subsidies in post offices. Now they have revealed more details in this
The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has announced that post offices will no longer pay Sassa cash grants to beneficiaries. This is because Sassa and Postal Bank have removed all cash payment terminals (CPPs), including cash pickup services at post offices. This will start in January this month and end at the end of March 2024, and Sassa recently said:
Please note that in January and March 2024, SASSA will close all remaining SASSA and Post Bank locations. This would affect less than 2% of Sassa social grant recipients.
SASSA Releases Schedule For Cash Pay Points Closures
Postal Bank spokesperson Bongani Diako, however, clarified that the Post Office would continue to provide non-cash services such as card insurance, PIN reset and statement printing.
In total, 870 cashback points will be closed. For affected beneficiaries, Sassa has published a timetable for the closure of these points in South Africa.
Here is a summary of the closures, by region:
Eastern Cape – 277
Free State – 26
Western Cape – 0
Gauteng-6
North Cape – 13
North West – 96
Limpopo – 216
Mpumalanga – 53
KwaZulu-Natal – 183
Why does this happen?
The reason for the lack of money in the Post Office is due to the financial problems of the Post Office, which suffered a loss of 6 billion over the last three years, and a loss of 2.2 billion in the 2022 financial year/ 2023.
As part of its business rescue plan, the Post Office plans to close 420 loss-making branches and lay off 6,000 workers, with the possibility of a £3.8 billion government bailout. The plan also calls for eliminating revenue streams that “failed to generate revenue.”
The revenue services they refer to include over-the-counter (“OTC”) payment services, which include SASSA and vending machine payments (“CPP”).
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