The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and Postbank have announced that a home visits program is underway for bedridden SASSA beneficiaries to replace their SASSA Gold Cards with Postbank Black Cards.
Postbank CEO Nikki Mbengashe announced this during a join media briefing by Postbank and SASSA on Monday in Pretoria.
Through the home visits program, SASSA and Postbank teams attend to beneficiaries from their places of residence, such as residential homes and nursing homes, and provide them grant access enabling services.
“We advise social grant beneficiaries and the public to be fully aware that home visits are available only for qualifying beneficiaries, and every request will be assessed on its merits applying strict criteria,” the CEO said.
The minimum criteria for a home visit request are as follows:
▪ Illness that may be considered to have rendered the beneficiary incapacitated in movements;
▪ People with incapacitating disability.
Beneficiaries are reminded that a note from a medical doctor, a social services worker official or a clinic’s medical report confirming the illness and complete incapacitation must accompany the request.
Bookings for home visits need to be made beforehand and they can be made directly through SASSA at any SASSA local offices, or telephonically through the SASSA Customer Care Centre on 0800 60 10 11 or the Postbank Call Centre on 0800 53 54 55.
Bookings for home visits can be made by a beneficiary directly or a person close to the beneficiary in terms of their movement and support. This person need not have any family relations with the beneficiary.
A beneficiary’s ID number, residential details and contact details will be required, and the beneficiary’s ID number shall be used as a reference number for any follow up enquiries.
“The home visits will be used to enable the beneficiaries to nominate a trusted individual to give authority over their account by signing a Postbank Account Access Authority letter.
“Postbank and SASSA plead with grant beneficiaries and the public that they must make home visits requests only where it is genuinely necessary, and the beneficiary meets the set criteria. To prevent abuse of the home visits system, any home visit requests for unqualifying beneficiaries will attract a R250 fine,” the CEO said.
The CEO urged beneficiaries to be on guard and not misled.
“We would like to warn beneficiaries not to be duped into changing banks without their [full understanding]. The only replacement bank for the gold card to the black card is Postbank.
“Only Postbank is running this process of swapping the SASSA gold card. Please be careful not to allow other people to confuse you to change banks without your consent,” she said. – SAnews.gov.za
