The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has slammed alleged abuse by its officials towards beneficiaries, saying such behaviour will not be tolerated.

This comes after allegations of misconduct and mistreatment at Mogwase local office, North West.

“Sassa would like to state that service with dignity to our beneficiaries should always be prioritised,” the agency said.

Sassa said the allegations were being taken seriously and escalated internally to ensure the misconduct does not happen again.

“We would like to apologise to anyone who may have been affected by this incident and give assurance that any behaviour not in line with our values will not be tolerated.”

The agency also apologised to grant recipients for problems relating to the replacement of expired gold cards.

The Sassa gold card is issued by Postbank and enables grant recipients to transact using the card and PIN within the national payment system at bank ATMs, South African Post Office (Sapo) branches, retailers and cash pay points.

“Sassa has about 5.9-million social grants recipients who transact through the gold cards, most of which will expire by June. Clients are urged to check the expiry date on their cards,” the agency said.

“Client payments will be processed as normal and funds are safely stored in the clients’ bank accounts. To avoid non-access to these funds, recipients have the option to either replace the Sassa gold card at the identified Sapo branch or an alternative venue provided by Postbank, a participating retailer or use the cardless withdrawal option provided by Postbank.

“Clients can also use the services of another bank. Due to this, clients will need to request a change of payment method at their nearest local office or alternative venue Sassa will make available specifically for this project,” it said.

Source: TimesLIVE