SOWETAN | Grants payment fiasco a disgrace

The heartbreaking picture of elderly people and the sickly stuck in long queues outside the Postbank in Diepkloof, Soweto, this week serves as an indictment on how the state treats the most vulnerable in our society.

Thousands of social grant beneficiaries, particularly the old and disabled, were left frustrated and angry when the Postbank’s new payment system failed, leaving them without their much-needed money for days.

With desperation and despair written all over their faces, beneficiaries waited in long queues in the hope that someone would do something about their plight.

The Postbank said it suspected that a migration of grants payments to a new system might have caused the problem that saw beneficiaries unable to withdraw their money from its branches and retailers. The entity could not say how many of the 5-million beneficiaries on its payroll were affected.

Anecdotal evidence pointed to poor communication about this chaotic problem that plunged people into panic. Many elderly people had boarded taxis to visit paypoints with borrowed money only to return home empty handed.

Troublingly, the Postbank admitted to not communicating as widely with the affected beneficiaries to avoid the chaos seen outside some branches. Some of the beneficiaries were left shell shocked when their accounts showed money had been withdrawn but they couldn’t get it.

The Postbank promised to credit their accounts, blaming a system error for this mess too. It’s a lousy effort to repair the damage they dealt to grants beneficiaries.

Of course, the government should also shoulder the blame for all the mess given its poor track record at monitoring grants payments to protect the vulnerable beneficiaries over the years. The Cash Paymaster Services saga has hardly dissipated from memory and grant beneficiaries have every right to be apprehensive again.

As it has been the norm, the state will only belatedly act when its failings are dragged out from the shadows into the spotlight.

The failure by the Postbank to anticipate problems and put in place risk migration measures to minimise the impact of its switch to the new payment system is a further reflection of deterioration of care to the needy. It’s a type of attitude that is mirrored in every service provided by the government to the poor communities in our country.