Extension of SASSA gold cards validity must include improved rollout plan
The Portfolio Committee on Social Development notes the extension of the deadline for South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) beneficiaries to swop their Gold Cards for the Postbank Black Card from 28 February 2025 to 20 March 2025.
The committee believes that the deadline for the validity of the SASSA Gold Cards should be extended in conjunction with a properly resourced and statistically improved rollout plan for the Postbank Black Cards. Extending the deadline without an improved rollout plan will prolong beneficiaries' frustration and panic.
It calls on SASSA to implement an outreach programme to older persons, people with disabilities homes, and old age homes to ensure that their Black Cards are issued at their places of residence, as SASSA policies provide for.
The committee is inundated with calls and e-mails from beneficiaries and their families, who are frustrated with the lack of sites to issue the Black Cards. Older persons and people with disabilities are stuck in long queues and, at times, are turned away without receiving help. The scenes unfolding at the renewal sites are a violation of human rights. The Departments of Social Development, Communication and Digital Technologies, SASSA and Postbank should ensure that the roll-out process occurs in a manner that protects the dignity of all beneficiaries.
For media enquiries, please contact the committee’s Media Officer:
Name: Ms Faith Ndenze
Parliamentary Communication Services
Cell: 081 377 0686
Email: fndenze@parliament.gov.za
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