Postbank says it used R200m to migrate SASSA gold card users to its new black cards

JOHANNESBURG - Postbank says it's used over R200 million to migrate South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) gold card users to its new black cards.

The entity said it was satisfied with its spending for the process, citing it was less than the approved budget of R300 million.

This was revealed at a media briefing in Pretoria by Postbank and SASSA officials on Monday ahead of its 20 March deadline for the card migration.

Postbank said the migration was necessary because its cards had expired and they needed to issue new cards with improved security features.

In order to do this, they rented space at retail outlets to assist beneficiaries.

The entity said it also hired 700 staff members for the process and also paid for door-to-door officials in order to access rural communities.

Postbank CEO Nikki Mbenganshe said that the entity’s spending so far was still under budget.

"The project is resourced by over 700 people across nationally. We have had to hire the tables that you see and the branding so that people are not mistakenly going to the wrong venues. We had to pay for the actual card because that is printed."

She added they still had 1.5 million people needing to migrate to the black cards.