By Loushe Jordaan Gilbert

SASSA is urging grant beneficiaries to refrain from collecting their monthly grants from the South African Post offices (SAPO).

The agency made the announcement on Thursday, a few days after SAPO said it would no longer be paying out the R350 Social Relief of Distress grant at its branches as a bid to mitigate against long queues.

SASSA’s spokesperson Paseka Letsatsi said beneficiaries should request to have their funds paid directly into their bank accounts to avoid long queues and or disappointments should a post office or retail outlet run out of funds specifically earmarked to pay-out grant beneficiaries.

“SASSA is currently implementing contingency measures where both SASSA and SAPO staff are present at the pay points and are assisting all clients to receive PINs, so that they can transact at the nearest retail outlets and bank ATMs. Furthermore, SASSA staff will continue to assist affected clients to access services and ensuring that correct information is provided to clients,” he stated.

Clients are reminded that that they can use the SASSA/SAPO card at any retail outlet or bank ATM.

“Clients can either withdraw cash they require or use the card to purchase goods.  Balances left in the card are safe and can be accessed whenever required. There is no need to withdraw all the cash at once,” he added.

SASSA said that the latest announcement also affected beneficiaries of the R350 SRD grants, leaving many anxious about uncollected funds, however beneficiaries should not panic as those funds would still be available to them.

“Recipients of the COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant of R350 who had selected to receive their funds at SAPO branches are also requested to visit www.srd.sassa.gov.za and select an option to collect the grant from any Checkers, Usave, Shoprite, Pick‘n Pay or Boxer retail outlet. Clients who still have uncollected COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant of R350 credit at SAPO/Postbank can also collect their funds from any other the mentioned outlets,” he stressed.

SASSA encourages beneficiaries to provide their Identity documents, cellphone and cellphone numbers that they used to register for the SRD grant when attempting to access their funds. All applicants for the COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress grant are encouraged to update their details on the system, to have the grant paid into their own personal bank account, as this is the safest way in which to receive the funds.

Photo sourced