At least 1.5m SASSA beneficiaries still need to switch to Postbank black cards

JOHANNESBURG - At least 1.5 million SASSA beneficiaries still need to migrate from their gold cards to Postbank black cards before Thursday's deadline.

Postbank currently serves 2.6 million grant recipients, but only 1.1 million have switched to the new black cards since the migration drive began.

The deadline was originally set for 28 February but was extended to March due to low registration numbers.

Postbank said the new black cards offered enhanced security features, making them more secure than the old gold cards.

Postbank CEO Nikki Mbenganshe said that they had streamlined their processes to speed up registration.

"The project was always meant to go through the numbers within six months. We started last year in September to go through, but we only started seeing beneficiaries come this year."