System migration fault leaves Sassa recipients frustrated

Social grants beneficiaries across the country were left frustrated and in despair after their funds were stalled for days by Postbank’s new malfunctioning payment system.

Hundreds of Sassa grant recipients queued outside Postbank offices and Sassa branches in the hope of getting their monthly funds yesterday, but many went home empty-handed and angry. This was according to the Post Bank, because of a system migration fault that saw withdrawals being declined at ATMs and retail shops. 

This led to chaos at some pay points with fatigued elderly and sickly people fuming. Most of the affected were the elderly who were meant to receive their grant on Tuesday and also the physically disabled whose grants were due on Wednesday. 

Yesterday, Queen Malinga who arrived at the Postbank in Kliptown, Soweto, said she had been standing outside Postbank since 6am waiting to get her funds but she had not received them by the afternoon.

“Yesterday, we queued here from 6am to 2pm and not being told anything and now we are back again, waiting in line for this money. Why are they changing things? This is frustrating,” said Malinga.

Stella Makhubu, 77, went to Pick n’ Pay in Diepkloof, Soweto, yesterday to collect her old age grant but was also not successful.

“I have grandchildren who are waiting for me to bring something home, waiting for me to eat and I have been waiting here at Pick n’ Pay trying to get my money,” she said.

In Tshwane, Pat Zungu, 80, had to borrow R50 to board a taxi from Mamelodi to the Pretoria CBD to inquire about his grant which he could not withdraw the previous day. He left his disabled wife, 78, at home and had hoped that his visit to the Sassa office yesterday would sort out their grant payment issues. 

Zungu shared with Sowetan how he secured a R50, an unplanned debt after his card declining at retail stores.

“On Tuesday, I borrowed money to go to the local complex to withdraw money but it declined several times,” Zungu said. He added that while it cost him R30 to go to the complex, he had to ask for additional R15 from his wife to go to Pretoria as Sassa offices in his neighbourhood was also packed.

“Now, if I don't get the money here today, I’ll have to borrow money [again] to go back home and also I’ll be forced to go to loan sharks and the problem is that they take your card and they have high interest rates. I just want my money to do basic things – to pay for my life policy, buy tea, maize meal, meat, vegetables and sugar and to pay for my wife's medical checkup and transport,” he said.

Postbank said it was working to have the problem resolve by the end of today. 

Spokesperson Bongani Diako said they suspected the migration to have been the cause of the problem as they haven’t had issues with the system since February. 

“When beneficiaries tried to withdraw money at the ATMs or at retailers, the transaction would come back declined or it [transaction] would timeout significantly. Sometimes if one was trying to withdraw, let’s say R500, it would reflect that money as being withdrawn when in fact no money came out from the machine. We are currently in the process of reversing all those monies back, hence we are saying those impacted would be able to access their reserve balance in the next 24hours,” said Diako.

He said he could not quantify how many of their five million beneficiaries have been impacted.

“The glitch is an IT issue on our end. Postbank is in the process of migrating into a new and more compliant banking system. We were moving from the Post Office environment which has been found not to be on par with the best industry practice. We have asked our IT team to look into the possibility that this glitch could have been caused by the migration into the new environment,” said Diako.  

Elizabeth Raiters, deputy chair at #PayTheGrants, said they were aware of the delays and have been trying to get information from both Sassa and Postbank.

“Beneficiaries were supposed to get their money last week, but they kept getting delays with numerous excuses from Postbank. This is really having a negative impact because now most of these people have to try and make up money for the few days until they get their next grant. It’'s a problem. This isn't the first time Postbank has had an issue with paying beneficiaries.

“Sassa and Postbank lack planning and actually problem-solving because how do you have the same problem over and over again and blame it on IT each time, not realising and learning how much it has affected people previously.”

Kelle Howson, senior researcher at Institute of Economic Justice, said Postbank needed to be understanding of the plight of the beneficiaries and have to improve their capacity and be rational in dealing with the problems.

“This [delay] deeply impacts the people, especially the elderly who don’t have much money to begin with because then they have to waste money on commuting numerous times to get money that was supposed to be delivered to them earlier on in the month,” said Howson.