Following months of unhappiness, SASSA and Postbank are severing ties. Formally known as the Master Service Agreement (MSA), the two state entities are calling it quits at the end of this month (30 September 2025). But what does that mean for beneficiaries?
Thankfully, both organisations insist there will be no disruption to grant payments. The agency sees Postbank just like it does any other financial institution. As such, payments between SASSA and Postbank will continue without disruption for the foreseeable future.
SASSA AND POSTBANK SEPERATING
So, if SASSA and Postbank are going their separate ways, what arrangement did they have in the first place? Well, the SA Post Office (SAPO) was first awarded the MSA for over the counter and cash pay-point services of social grants back in 2018. The Parliamentary portfolio committee heard this week that SASSA didn’t have the infrastructure or knowledge on how to distribute grants. That’s how the partnership with SAPO came to be.
However, after SAPO’s collapse in 2022, the MSA to guide grant payments was taken over by Postbank. In the interim, the country’s 28-million South African Social Security Agency beneficiaries have turned their collective backs on unreliable government services, and they’ve opted instead for private banking.
NO NEW SERVICE PROVIDER APPOINTED
This came to light this past week in a Parliament portfolio committee meeting on Social Development, reports GroundUp. “Postbank remains a functioning bank and beneficiaries will continue to receive their grants. Likewise, no new MSA service provider is being appointed,” explained Social Development Minister Sisisi Tolashe.
At the same time, the committee heard that R22.4 billion is paid to social grant recipients every month. 22 private institutions receive funds from SASSA:
- Capitec is the highest with 7.6 million.
- Postbank second with 3 million.
- African Bank third with 2.1 million.
500 000 FACE A NEW DEADLINE
However, despite the SASSA and Postbank divorce, the latter remains part of the payments system. And nothing should change as of 1 October 2025. As The South African reported earlier, roughly half-a-million SASSA grant recipients still bank with Postbank.
Moreover, the SA Reserve Bank (SARB) has given the entity till 31 December 2026 to transition its last clients from Gold to more-secure Black cards. This was requested after it came to light that SASSA and Postbank cards had been compromised in a cryptography breach in 2021.
ARE YOU WORRIED YOU’LL BE IMPACTED BY SASSA AND POSTBANK CUTTING TIES?
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