Mitchell’s Plain social grant recipients no longer need to leave the area to renew their beneficiary cards.
The Beaconvale Community Frail Care Centre, on the corner of Rambler and Pontiac streets in Beacon Valley, has struck a deal with the SA Post Office to renew and issue the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) cards.
Two months ago, beneficiaries raised the alarm that there were no post offices in Mitchell’s Plain to have their cards renewed (“‘Plain post office closed,” Plainsman, February 23).
Solomon Philander, the frail-care centre’s board chairman, said the SA Post Office services had started there on Monday April 24.
He said he had been to post offices outside of Mitchell’s Plain and seen long queues and grant recipients being turned away because the post office was closed or had too few cards.
Roslyn October, from Tafelsig, said her mother-in-law Isabel Rossouw, 85, had been to the Plumstead post office only to find it closed, and the Kenilworth and Grassy Park post offices had had no cards at the time of her visit.
Ms October brought Ms Rossouw to the frail-care centre after reading about the new service in a church WhatsApp group.
“I’m glad we’re being helped here. We’ve been from post office to post office and my mother-in-law can barely walk. We are here to support her, but what about the other seniors?”
Last week, close to 200 people were helped at the centre and the tellers, who have been moved from other branches, said they were prepared and had stock to help more people.
A Sassa tweet on Thursday April 27 said pensioners would receive their pay-outs tomorrow, Thursday May 4, including any grants linked to these accounts; disability grants would be distributed on Friday May 5; and children’s grants on Monday May 8.
The tweet said there was no need to rush to withdraw on the first day. “Once the money is in the account, it will remain there until it is needed.”
