Great news for millions of South African grant beneficiaries is that SASSA Gold Cards will remain operational beyond 31 May 2025, ensuring uninterrupted access to social grants.
The announcement made last week, comes as a relief for beneficiaries who have not yet migrated to the new Postbank Black Cards, putting an end to any uncertainty about payment disruptions.
In a statement, Postbank reassured users that Gold Cards will continue to function across all payment platforms, including ATMs, retail stores, and POS devices. This means beneficiaries can still withdraw cash, make purchases, and access their funds as usual – no immediate switch is required.
“We remain committed to ensuring no beneficiary is left without access to their grants,” said Postbank CEO Nikki Mbengashe.
“In keeping with our commitment that we made that Postbank will ensure that no beneficiary will be left with no access to their grants and that there will be no disruptions in payments of grants, Gold Cards will continue to work until every beneficiary is transitioned to the new black card.
“We are therefore hopeful and confident that this announcement addresses any concern relating to the payments of any beneficiaries that may not have yet obtained their Black Cards,” Mbengashe, explained.
The CEO advised social grant beneficiaries to ignore any call that they must change banks, as this is unnecessary.
“We plead with them to be wary of misleading information that their Gold Cards will not work and that they need to change banks because of this,” she said.
Beneficiaries are also asked to always only respond to Postbank published communication when it comes to their SASSA Gold Cards and the Black Cards, as the only authorised entity that is responsible for the issuing of these cards.
Beneficiaries are further advised that whenever they come across any information regarding their cards that has not been communicated by Postbank, they should not believe what is being said.
Postbank said this will prevent beneficiaries from being misled as the entity observes increased amounts of incorrect information being communicated about the SASSA cards recently.
“As the Gold Cards will continue to work and all beneficiaries can continue to use those cards and their Black Cards to access payments, Postbank notifies the beneficiaries that it has put a temporary suspension of the distribution of new Black Cards in its sites until further notice.
“This, however, has no impact on anyone who currently has a Postbank Black Card, as that card will continue to work as per normal,” the entity said.
The Postbank card distribution sites, however, will remain open and available to beneficiaries to access the following services:
• PIN resets.
• Reissuing of Black Cards for any beneficiary that has experienced a lost/stolen card incident.
• Beneficiaries seeking to register for the cardless payment alternative. – SAnews.gov.za
