Postbank, once championed as a no-fee banking alternative for social grant recipients, has lost about 75% of its social grant customers over the past five years.

After the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) ended its unlawful contract with Cash Paymaster Services for the payment of social grants in 2018, the South African Post Office (SAPO) took over.

Postbank, a subsidiary of SAPO, stepped in to administer payments to newly issued SASSA-branded bank cards, which provided social grant beneficiaries with a no-fee alternative to private banks.

From at least 2022 onwards, customers experienced periodic payment delays due to cyber attacks and other technical problems.

Postbank was issued notices by the SA Reserve Bank in 2021, 2022, and 2023 to replace all SASSA Gold Cards with new Black Cards that have improved security features.

But it was only in 2024 that a concerted campaign started to swap Gold Card users to the new cards by March this year.

This caused chaos across the country as millions of people rushed to switch their cards. The process was slow and marred with difficulties.

SASSA has terminated its Master Service Agreement with Postbank, which will come to an end on 30 September 2025.

• Produced by The Outlier in partnership with GroundUp.