Grindrod Bank announced on Wednesday that as of April 1‚ the South African Security Agency (Sassa) will no longer carry the cost of bank accounts of recipients – putting the burden of those costs onto grant recipients.

Grindrod provides banking services for Sassa grant recipients‚ paying 17-million grants to 10.6-million cardholders‚ amounting to R11-billion per month.

The bank said the decision by Sassa not to carry the cost of bank accounts meant all beneficiaries using banks to access their grants would be liable for the costs of banking fees. However‚ beneficiaries who utilised the Pay Point and biometric Point of Sale (POS) devices would continue to be subsidised by Sassa.

The bank said cash withdrawals at Grindrod ATMs would cost R4 plus R1.50 per R100 or part thereof. Cash withdrawals at other banks’ ATMs would cost R5 plus R1.50c per R100 or part thereof.

Balance enquiries at other banks’ ATMs would cost R5 per transaction and a charge of R1.91 per transaction would be charged if there were insufficient funds‚ invalid PIN‚ excessive PIN retries or if the daily withdrawal limit was exceeded.

Meanwhile‚ Sassa announced that social grants payments for April would start on Sunday for those who receive their payments through ATMs and merchants.

It said payment at Sassa pay points would start next Tuesday. This aspect of cash payments‚ which is administered by Cash Paymaster Services‚ was extended for the next six months by the Constitutional Court on March 23.