Answer to a question from a reader

My mother still hasn't received her full grant after being short paid in September 2023.

The short answer

You should contact Postbank either by phone or email.

The whole question

Dear Athalie

Thank you for your email asking for help as your mother has still not received her full grant after it was short paid in September 2023.

On 20 September 2023, the Parliamentary Monitoring Group discussed the problem of many older persons not getting their pension money in September 2023. SASSA said that on 5 and 6 September there had been an IT problem in the Postbank system resulting in people not getting paid their grants. SASSA apologised for this but said that the problem had been resolved and they had since paid out everyone.

But Ms A Abrahams (DA) said there had been reports that some individuals had access to only about R200 in their accounts and not everyone had received their money since. She asked for an explanation about the short payments.

She asked too how Postbank would deal with situations where the bank's system showed that someone had received their social grant, but it was found that the person had not received any social grant?

She said It was untrue that 100% of the grant payment issues had been resolved. She had received calls from people indicating they still had not received their payments from SASSA. This was completely unacceptable.

The organisations, Amandla.mobi and Black Sash, also said that some grant recipients who receive their money through the Postbank had still not received their September payment. Many of these recipients were hoping to receive double payments in October, but this had not been the case.

It seems that your mother must be one of those who are still, shockingly, waiting for the short payment to be corrected. 

SASSA said that people who were still encountering challenges with accessing their grant money and required support, should contact the Postbank call centre on 0800 53 54 55 or email to PBbalancingSaswitch@postbank.co.za.

If this fails, your mother could contact the Black Sash, an organisation which has a lot of experience in dealing with SASSA and gives free paralegal advice.

These are the contact details for the Black Sash:

email: help@blacksash.org.za

Helpline: 072 66 33 73, 072 633 3739 or 063 610 1865.

The long answer

On 20 September 2023, the Parliamentary Monitoring Group discussed the problem of many older persons not getting their pension money in September 2023. SASSA said that on 5 and 6 September there had been an IT problem in the Postbank system resulting in people not getting paid their grants. SASSA apologised for this but said that the problem had been resolved and they had since paid out everyone.

But Ms A Abrahams (DA) said there had been reports that some individuals had access to only about R200 in their accounts and not everyone had received their money since. She asked for an explanation about the short payments.

She asked too how Postbank would deal with situations where the bank's system showed that someone had received their social grant, but it was found that the person had not received any social grant?

She said It was untrue that 100% of the grant payment issues had been resolved. She had received calls from people indicating they still had not received their payments from SASSA. This was completely unacceptable.

The organisations, Amandla.mobi and Black Sash, also said that some grant recipients who receive their money through the Postbank had still not received their September payment. Many of these recipients were hoping to receive double payments in October, but this had not been the case.

It seems that your mother must be one of those who are still, shockingly, waiting for the short payment to be corrected. 

SASSA said that people who were still encountering challenges with accessing their grant money and required support, should contact the Postbank call centre on 0800 53 54 55 or email to PBbalancingSaswitch@postbank.co.za.

If this fails, your mother could contact the Black Sash, an organisation which has a lot of experience in dealing with SASSA and gives free paralegal advice.

These are the contact details for the Black Sash:

email: help@blacksash.org.za

Helpline: 072 66 33 73, 072 633 3739 or 063 610 1865.

Wishing you the best,
Athalie

Answered on Feb. 15, 2024, 10:18 p.m.

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