White card is useless, only two weeks left to go for gold, grant recipients told

With the new card switchover looming, the Black Sash is urgently calling on social grant beneficiaries – people receiving child grants, disability grants and old age grants – to waste no time in getting the new, gold Sassa card before December 15.

These can be obtained at either post offices or the South Africa Social Security Agency (Sassa) offices.

"This is extremely important as beneficiaries will NOT be able to access their grants in January 2019 with the old white Sassa cards, which expire in December 2018," said the non-governmental group, which assists South Africa's poor.

Black Sash national advocacy manager Hoodah Abrahams-Fayker cautioned: "Beneficiaries should also not give out their ID or pin numbers to anyone making ‘special offers’ or who say they are from Sassa, as Sassa has no reason to make special offers to grant beneficiaries or sell any services which would require deductions from grants."

Beneficiaries can also call the Black Sash helpline if they are experiencing difficulty obtaining the new Sassa card: 072 6633 739.