JOHANNESBURG – Embattled social welfare grant distributor Postbank said it has put systems in place to prevent a repeat of beneficiaries not being paid again.
Earlier this month, about 500,000 South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) grant beneficiaries did not receive their money due to a glitch in Postbank’s system.
However, in a media briefing in Pretoria on Thursday, Postbank has assured South Africans that the glitch has been resolved once and for all.
READ: Postbank has resolved its system glitches – govt
Out of the 18 million social welfare grant recipients in the country, about 35% receive their money through Postbank.
The state-owned bank, which is currently under administration, is being prepared by the national government to take over the country’s entire grant distribution system.
Postbank CEO, Nikki Mbengashe, said the glitch in their system has been resolved.
“The criteria that we absolutely use is to always test what went wrong, did we fix it, do we have assurance that what went wrong was fixed? I think we have provided that because the issue happened on the 5th and the switch has been working as it should from the 7th.”
The next payment cycle of social welfare grants is about two weeks away.