R350 grant payments delayed due to system glitches at Postbank

Beneficiaries of the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) R350 grant were livid on Wednesday.

This was after the processing of payments hit a snag due to system glitches at Postbank.

It meant payments at retailers including Pick n Pay, Boxer, Usave, Shoprite and Checkers were delayed.

PostBank said the problem was due to connectivity issues within the SRD R350 payment services platform.

Most social grant recipients access their funds at retailers, while some use the services of the Post Office.

Africa Melane spoke to Lucas Ndala, the interim CEO at Postbank to talk about the technical issues.

The timeouts are experienced when we have high volumes. The team has begun its investigation and started working on isolating the problem. We will sit this morning to see if it’s been successful.

Lucas Ndala, Postbank interim CEO

It’s estimated that 70,000 transactions were not successful yesterday, so this morning we will do a quick review of the transactions which did not go through. It’s also difficult to tell which areas are impacted but we will engage with our various retailers.

Lucas Ndala, Postbank interim CEO

Meanwhile, Ndala has refuted rumours that the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) gold cards issued by PostBank were no longer functional.

All those grant cards are still valid and holders of those cards can still transact as usual. Anyone whose lost their card can go to the nearest Sassa office to do a card swap.

Lucas Ndala, Postbank Interim CEO