Cabinet has welcomed the successful pilot roll-out of the new South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) cards at selected post offices in the Western Cape.
The cards allow social grant beneficiaries to swap existing cards for the new South African Post Office (SAPO)-SASSA Postbank cards.
The new SAPO card replaces the old SASSA card and will be used for payment and withdrawal of social grants from May 2018.
The SAPO cards have been distributed nationwide from 17 April to all beneficiaries of social grants receiving cash payments at pay points and merchants (e.g. ShopRite, Boxer Supermarket etc.)
It is envisaged that SASSA, in collaboration with SAPO, will distribute the new cards to estimated nine million beneficiaries. Approximately 2.5 million of these beneficiaries receive their social grants at pay points around the country.
Communications Minister Nomvula Mokonyane reassured that social grant recipients and cardholders are still able to use their existing cards until December 2018.
However, Cabinet encouraged beneficiaries to swap their old cards by visiting their nearest SASSA or SAPO from 2 May until the end of September 2018.
Minister Mokonyane was briefing the media on Thursday in Cape Town, following the Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday,
Progress in implementation of free education welcomed
Cabinet also welcomed the progress being made in the implementation of free education, as detailed by Higher Education and Training Minister Naledi Pandor.
Minister Mokonyane said the announcement of a significant increase in baseline allocation to NSFAS from R9.85 billion 2017/18 to R35.32 billion in 2020/21 demonstrates government’s commitment to assisting students from poor and working class households.
During a media briefing on Tuesday, Minister Pandor said that progress has been made to ensure that the new bursary scheme is implemented successfully.
This comes after government’s announcement in 2017 that free education would be implemented to support poor students, whose parents’ combined annual income is R350 000 or less.
As a result, additional government funding of R7.17 billion has been allocated in 2018 to fund bursaries for children of poor and working class families entering universities and TVET colleges – with R4.58 billion set aside for qualifying university students and R2.59 billion allocated for TVET college students. – SAnews.gov.za
