Minister Gungubele's doubtful deadline to swap old SASSA cards will be met

CAPE TOWN - Communications and Digital Technologies Deputy Minister, Mondli Gungubele has said it's unlikely that the deadline to swap old South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) cards will be met.

The deadline for swapping old gold SASSA cards for new Postbank black cards has been extended to March 20.

READ: Long SASSA queues in Alberton as beneficiaries flock to update their cards

The extension was granted after social grant beneficiaries raised concerns about many challenges they faced during the swap process.

The Postbank and the South African Social Security Agency are briefing the Western Cape Standing Committee on Social Development in the provincial legislature on Tuesday.

The committee heard that, as of February 28, the Postbank has only issued just more than 880,000 black cards for its 2.8 million (2 million 851,000) customers.

Gungubele says swapping SASSA cards might not be completed by the deadline and told the committee that the Postbank and SASSA are working around the clock to close the gap.

"We are trying to move at a pace where all the beneficiaries get the black card, God helping us, by the end of March which has become clearly impossible in our view. But we are doing our best so that by the end of March a number of them would have got the black card," said Gungubele.

Gungubele also said that plans have been made for those who won't be able to swap before the deadline.

"Alternative plans have been made, that between the end of March and June the people who still have Gold cards they cannot use they will still access the institution to get their money using a cardless system," said Gungubele