ZA: Government to replace Sassa grant cards after security breach

BusinessTech staff report:

Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu says that government is in talks with stakeholders to replace South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) cards after a security breach, first reported in 2019.

Responding to a written parliamentary Q&A in December, Zulu said that Sassa cards are actually bank cards issued by the South African Post Office (SAPO) on behalf of Postbank to approved applicants who choose to collect their social grants through the post office.

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“In 2019, Sassa was alerted to the fact that the ‘master keys’ for the cards had been compromised in the bank environment.

“The South African Reserve Bank as the responsible entity for the National Payment System then issued an instruction late in 2019 that all the current Sassa cards would have to be replaced as they are potentially compromised.