Postbank and SASSA have reminded social grant beneficiaries, who have not yet migrated to the new Postbank black cards, that their SASSA gold cards will still work in the next grant payments cycle scheduled for 4 to 6 March 2025.

This follows the extension of the deadline to replace the SASSA gold cards to 20 March 2025.

READ MORE: Deadline to switch to Postbank Black Card extended

Beneficiaries will therefore be able to perform all enabled transactions with their SASSA gold cards during the upcoming March payment run.

They will be able to use gold cards to withdraw cash from ATMs, make balance enquiries, print statements, withdraw cash over the till in all retailers, do balance enquiries and purchases.

SASSA gold cards will be disabled at 17:00 (5 pm) on 20 March 2025.

Thereafter, no beneficiary will be able to use their gold card to make any transaction even if they have funds in their accounts.

Retailers will not accept the cards for any transactions, and any attempts will result in automatic system transaction declines.

The gold cards will also not be accepted by any ATM, and they may be swallowed when inserted into any ATM to attempt a transaction.

However, Postbank and SASSA have assured beneficiaries that miss the 20 March 2025 deadline, that they will continue to be paid their SASSA grants and they will be enabled to access their funds without cards.

Postbank CEO, Nikki Mbengashe explains:

“We assure you that everything possible will be done to enable all beneficiaries to access their grant payment after the cards are disabled. After the cards are disabled, any funds balance due to beneficiaries and all subsequent months’ payments will be stored safely in their current individual Postbank dedicated grants accounts and the funds will be accessible through our alternative methods of payment, or with the black cards once they have obtained them.”

Beneficiaries have been urged to use the opportunity of the extended deadline and replace their gold cards with the new Postbank black cards during the March payments.

The grants payment cycle of 4 to 6 March 2025 will be the last grant payments that are made with SASSA gold cards.

There has been frustration at the process, as beneficiaries are faced with long queues at outlets are assisting with card replacements.

Postbank says it has increased the number of tellers servicing all the existing sites across the country. Postbank has also added more places to replace cards.

Postbank black cards can be obtained from select outlets of major retailers that include Pick n Pay, Boxer, Usave, Shoprite and Checkers.

In addition, Postbank has started rolling out Spar stores nationwide to replace cards, providing an additional 234 places for beneficiaries to get cards.

A shortened USSD number which beneficiaries can use to look up sites has been introduced to improve their customer experience. To look up sites, beneficiaries can follow this process:

• Dial *120*355#
• Reply with (1) to continue
• Reply with the province number (numbers 1 to 9 representing all provinces)
• Reply with the number of the municipality. Then all the card replacement sites under that municipality will appear.

The March grant payment dates are as follows:

• Old Age Grant, Tuesday, March 4.
• Disability Grant, Wednesday, March 5.
• Child Grant, Thursday, March 6.