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SAPO looks to distribute SASSA payments

Simnikiwe Mzekandaba
By Simnikiwe Mzekandaba, IT in government editor
Johannesburg, 25 May 2017
SAPO can use Postbank to assist SASSA to take over social grant payments.
SAPO can use Postbank to assist SASSA to take over social grant payments.

The SA Post Office (SAPO) is ready to use Postbank to assist the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) to take over the payment of social grants.

This is the word from Department of Telecommunications and Posta Services minister Siyabonga Cwele, speaking at a media briefing ahead of his budget vote yesterday.

SA's social grants are currently distributed by Cash Paymaster Services, a Net1 UEPS Technologies subsidiary, after the Constitutional Court granted a one-year extension of the current invalid contract.

However, the court instructed SASSA and the social development department to use the time to find a suitable entity that will assist the agency to take over payments in the future.

SAPO previously put its name forward as a future distributor of social grant payments.

According to Cwele, with its current licence, Postbank will be able to pay social grants.

The corporatisation of Postbank is one of government's vehicles to widen access to financial services in the country's underserved areas, he said. "This process is progressing well."

The minister pointed to the fact that SAPO was registered and incorporated with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission as some of its key successes.

"SAPO is ready to use Postbank to assist SASSA to take over the payment of social grants as directed by the court," said Cwele.

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