Postbank 'working' to ensure retailers don't exploit Sassa beneficiaries

She briefed Parliament's Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies on Wednesday.

Postbank and the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) have been in the spotlight following technical glitches that resulted in late grant payments in September.

Some 600,000 grant beneficiaries were left with empty pockets due to what was described as a technical glitch at the state-owned bank.

Most beneficiaries have been withdrawing their money from ATMs and retailers due to challenges at various Post Office branches throughout the country.

Earlier this month, beneficiaries in KwaZulu-Natal were urged to withdraw their money from ATMs and retailers.

Mbengashe told MPs they are making progress in addressing the issues.

"We are very aware of areas where experience is not optimal for customers. This includes cash pay points, some of which are needed because they are remote areas, however, the experience is not optimal for the customers, they have to sit outside, and sometimes there is no water.

“But we are making progress in ensuring that we channel them to channels that are convenient wherever we can.

“We have all five major retailers that we are working with; Boxer, Pick n Pay, Spar, Shoprite, and Usave. For us this is progressive because it means our customers have access.

“We are also mindful and managing that relationship to ensure that the customer is not exploited by the retailer, they are able to withdraw their full money and are not forced to buy.

“We are hearing that in some areas there might be exploitation, we are busy reviewing our agreement with retailers to ensure that we are clear on that," said Mbengashe.

She added that while bank has lost some customers, however, they still have 10 million people making use of their services.

"The bank is still with about 10 million active customers. This is an admirable number of customers by any commercial bank as it takes years to get this number.”

Mbengashe also said Postbank is busy implementing consequence management after auditing firm KPMG found that service providers were being paid millions without valid contracts, and proper procurement processes were not being followed.

Last month, Postbank's board of directors and chairperson resigned from their roles at the entity.

But Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Mondli Gungubele said the pre-emptive mass resignation was to avoid accountability for unlawful conduct.

Mbengashe told the committee that the business has dismissed some employees, while others voluntarily resigned.

"The business has dismissed five employees, six disciplinary processes, four voluntary resigned, two suspended and investigations are ongoing. The voluntary resignations are an indication of the start of a new culture of consequence management emerging in the bank."

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