The cash-strapped South African Post Office (Sapo) will play its part in rolling out the renewed R350 Covid-19 relief grant, despite concerns over branch closures.(Bonile Bam)
The cash-strapped South African Post Office (Sapo) will play its part in rolling out the renewed R350 Covid-19 relief grant, despite concerns over branch closures.
Beneficiaries will still be able to collect their grants from any post office and may also opt to have the money the R350 paid into their bank accounts or collect it from an ATM via e-wallet or cash-send services, the spokesperson for the post office Johan Kruger told the Mail & Guardian.
On Sunday night, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the reinstatement of the R350 social relief of distress grant, which provided a lifeline for the unemployed during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The president’s announcement came in the wake of economy-battering riots and looting in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. The violence — which left a number of businesses in tatters, threatening livelihoods — dealt yet another blow to an economy already reeling from the third wave of the pandemic and the stricter lockdown imposed in response.
The grant has now been extended to unemployed caregivers who also currently receive a child support grant, and will be rolled out until the end of March 2022. Details on the reinstatement of the grant, including the process for application, will be announced shortly, Ramaphosa said.
He said renewing the grant “will build on the strength of our existing social protection system, which is one of the greatest achievements of our democracy”.
The grants are administered by the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) through the post office. But in May, Sapo chief executive Nomkhita Mona told parliament that the parastatal had plans to close more than 100 of its branches, raising concerns over how beneficiaries would access their payouts.
At the time, Mona said there were plans to shut down 88 branches, with a view to closing 130 in total, because of Sapo’s lack of profitability and the fact that there were too many branches within a short distance of one another.
A number of branches were forced to close earlier in the year because Sapo could not pay the rent. By May, 27 of the closed branches were re-opened “following extensive negotiations with landlords”.
In June, the executive manager of grants administration at Sassa, Dianne Dunkerley, voiced her concern over the impact of the post office closures on access to grants. Sassa was monitoring the situation very closely, Dunkerly told parliament.
Sapo’s Kruger told the M&G that no more branches were being eyed for closure in 2021. Those that had closed, he said, were all in cities and within 5km of one another. No branches in rural areas were being considered for closure, he added.
Meanwhile, Sassa has noted that the implementation date for the renewed R350 grant has not been announced. This means that applications are not yet open.
Caregivers intending to access the R350 grant will have to apply for it when the system is open, the agency said in a statement. All other beneficiaries who have been receiving the grant will not be required to apply, but will have to confirm their ID numbers and bank account details.
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