Africa-Press – South-Africa. The South African Post Office (SAPO) has been slapped with punitive penalties for failing to pay government social grants on time for six consecutive months last year.
On Wednesday, officials from the Department of Social Development and the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) briefed Parliament on the status of grant payments.
They told the National Assembly’s Portfolio Committee on Social Development that SAPO has added to the problems and delays with paying social grants.
Officials told MPs that SAPO had failed to provide dignified services, adequate equipment to comply with norms and standards, and adhere to a payment schedule time.
This occurred consecutively from April to September 2022, they said.
In respect of a requirement for adequate equipment to comply with Sassa norms and standards, a sufficient number of cash dispensing machines at cash pay points should be deployed.
The above requirement was measured by the availability of adequate payment staff as prescribed, the officials said.
They added that downtime of the equipment should not exceed one hour. The downtime requirement was measured by the time it takes to restore the network.
A penalty, equaling 5% of the monthly service fee for each SAPO branch and cash pay point not meeting facilities and equipment standards should be imposed.
Sassa also wants all SAPO branches and counter service points to be equipped with electronic cash dispensing machines.
Sassa also requires SAPO to have an alternative power supply in the event of power failure or load shedding.
Failure in this regard will attract a penalty of 5% of the monthly service fee per “affected access channel”.
Where delays in payment exceed a one-hour waiting period, sandwiches and fresh beverages should be provided.
The service fee paid by Sassa for the disbursement of social grants are as follows:
– Cash Pay Point: R188.81 per beneficiary (these payment points are located mostly in rural areas).
– SAPO branches: R72.95 per beneficiary.
– National Payment System: R7.14 per beneficiary (these include banks and retailers).
Regarding the Master Services Agreement (MSA) with Postbank, Brenton van Vrede, Sassa director for grant administration, said the contract was ceded with the same MSA agreed to with SAPO, with the option to review it.
“Teams from both sides have met a few times until now to consider terms that may be reviewed in the existing MSA. The timeline for the review is estimated to be 31st March 2023; however, currently challenges are impacting negatively on this process. The service level agreement review will only commence once the MSA is finalised,” he said.
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