With innovative financial services and fintech start-ups at hand, the government could use this rich vein of smarts to distribute social grants, writes shapshak.
Vulnerable: People queue for their grants at a Sassa pay point in Jeppes Reef, Mpumalanga. Picture: Sowetan/Sandile Ndlovu
Recipients would receive their grants as a free electronic funds transfer and could then make further free payments and transfers to any other bank account, swipe the card for free or draw cash from any ATM or point of sale at Shoprite and Pick n Pay stores nationwide, he adds. The bank says it has experienced zero fraud through its credit cards, which all feature a selfie of the account holder — another potential security boon for grant beneficiaries.
However, even though the government gives the Post Office “billions in fees” to distribute grants, “it cannot make it work”. The “next wave of logistical nightmares” facing the Post Office, he warns, is the expiry of Sassa gold cards. This will create “a further crisis for grant recipients, who cannot now transact with their cards”.