SASSA PARTNERS WITH FNB TO ASSIST BENEFICIARIES AFFECTED BY ITHALA PROVISIONAL LIQUIDATION

• Working closely with the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), First National Bank (FNB) has stepped in to provide social assistance to beneficiaries who have been impacted by the financial crisis at Ithala SOC Limited with emergency bank accounts.
• The Prudential Authority of the South African Reserve Bank has lodged an application for the provisional liquidation of Ithala SOC Limited at the Pietermaritzburg High Court.
• SASSA and FNB will be reaching out to beneficiaries in more rural areas to limit the inconvenience of travelling vast distances to bank branches.

The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) is collaborating with First National Bank to provide emergency banking assistance to social beneficiaries affected by the provisional liquidation application of Ithala SOC Limited.

According to SASSA, the Prudential Authority of the South African Reserve Bank has lodged an application in the Pietermaritzburg High Court for the provisional liquidation of Ithala SOC Limited. This resulted in the freezing of the bank accounts of Ithala’s clients, including more than 65 000 social assistance beneficiaries.

The majority of these beneficiaries – who receive old age, Covid-19 social relief of distress, care dependency, child support, combination, disability, and foster care grants – are from KwaZulu-Natal.

A small fraction of beneficiaries come from the Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, the North West, and the Western Cape.

In the wake of the Prudential Authority urgent application, the National Treasury approached the Banking Association of South Africa for support from its members, particularly for the affected social grant beneficiaries.

The association then reached out to its members to identify institutions capable of quickly opening new accounts for grant beneficiaries banking at Ithala. FNB offered emergency assistance to open accounts to facilitate payment for Ithala’s social security clients.

SASSA and FNB have worked together to make sure all Ithala clients who have not been able to open a new bank account yet, will be given an interim FNB account until the clients are able to set up an account with their preferred bank.

FNB has communicated with SASSA beneficiaries to activate their new emergency accounts and collect their bank cards from their nearest branches from 28 January to 4 February 2025.

Clients will need a valid form of identity to collect their card.

In addition, joint outreach programmes will be held by SASSA and FNB in more rural areas to limit the travelling inconvenience for clients in these areas.

All clients, over the next three months, will have the choice to change to their preferred bank. SASSA will ensure that sufficient resources are available to support clients with this. “The interim measure that we have entered into with FNB, will ensure that our clients continue to have access to their grant monies on time,” says SASSA.

Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress beneficiaries may be affected by this unexpected change, SASSA noted, adding that in terms of its processes, the agency anticipates that their January grant payments could be delayed. A special payment run will happen as soon as possible to remedy this.

Beneficiaries are urged to not panic during this period and note that SASSA is working closely with FNB and all the relevant stakeholders to ensure that all its beneficiaries will receive their grants as usual.