Sassa Introduces More Places to Collect R350 Scholarships
The post office is no longer a pick-up point for R350 grant payments and this would of course have repercussions. The government is now working on introducing more collection points.
It was recently announced that the Post Office would no longer be a pick-up point for R350 grant payments. The Ministry of Social Development is now striving to make more collection points available to beneficiaries.
Currently, Special Relief of Distress (SRD) grant grants can be paid through a bank account or collected at any of these stores: PicknPay, Boxer, Checkers, USave, Boxer, and Shoprite.
During a meeting with the Portfolio Commission, Mr B Van Vrede, Chief Social Assistance Director of the Department of Social Development, acknowledged that there are problems with the retail collection points, but said that pick-up at a store is better than pick-up at the post office.
With the post office no longer giving out R350 subsidies, Sassa expected there would be overcrowding in the shops, but said it would decrease over time.
One reason for this is that Sassa is working on introducing more stores as subsidy collection points.
Van Vrede said that Sassa has finalized an agreement with SPAR to pay out subsidies, after which it is the turn of Pep and Spaza stores.
Concerns have also been raised that cash payment points are problematic, as they require beneficiaries to travel long distances. Introducing more retail collection points would then help to solve this problem.
It was recently revealed that Sassa was unable to make grant payments of R350 because the Ministry had completed a functional verification process to ensure all systems were in place for the grant payment.
Minister in the presidency, Mondli Gungubele apologized for the period of non-payment and assured people that the government will fulfill its obligations regarding the payment of the SRD grant.
He said, “But as long as those SRDs are due, in accordance with the President’s commitment, they will be paid.”
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