Sassa warns against ‘fake news’ — cards do not need to be renewed

The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has made a plea to all grant recipients not to panic about cards that expire in December.

Speaking to City Press, Sassa spokesperson Paseka Letsatsi said that they had been made aware of a message circulating on social media platforms saying that Sassa cards would have to be renewed before the December expiry date. This after people had contacted them to ask about the process of renewal.

“What is happening is that people are getting WhatsApp messages from unknown numbers saying that they need to renew their Sassa bank cards before they expire in December. This is fake news,” Letsatsi said.

Although some cards do have an expiry date of December 2017, Letsatsi was adamant that the cards will still work even after the expiration date.

“It is like any other card, and will still work. We only issue one card, and people mustn’t panic thinking they have to renew their cards,” he said.

Letsatsi advised all beneficiaries not to be coerced into taking new cards and reiterated that Sassa only issues one card and does not endorse or support any other bank cards.

Sassa also raised concerns around the illegal deductions which have been taking place on its cards.

“The Sassa payment card operates like most bank cards and social grant beneficiaries are able to enter into debit order agreements for products and services, and have payments effected from their accounts. Many services, such as marketing of prepaid airtime, prepaid electricity and loans are targeted directly at social grant beneficiaries, with the repayments coming off their accounts,” Letsatsi said in a statement sent out earlier in the day.

When the grant is paid and the loan repayments for these products come off before the beneficiary can access the grant, the beneficiaries then complain to Sassa, confusing these debits with deductions.

“Sassa wishes to stress that the only direct deduction from a social grant, which is permitted, is a deduction for funeral policy premiums,” the statement read. That deduction may not exceed 10% of the value of the grant.

Members of the public are encouraged to contact Sassa on 0800 60 10 11 if they are uncertain about anything.