The Postbank Black Card rollout was abruptly suspended in April following a chaotic transition from the SASSA Gold Card. Image supplied by Postbank
- Postbank has not applied for a full banking licence, but says it is legally allowed to issue cards under the National Payment System Act.
- The Black Card rollout was abruptly suspended in April following a chaotic transition from the SASSA Gold Card.
- The Reserve Bank said the temporary suspension of the Black Card rollout was to enable Postbank to “embed additional controls” for the Black Cards.
- Postbank says the Black and Gold Cards remain valid, and it still intends to apply for a full banking licence.
Following months of a nationwide push to get social grant beneficiaries to switch to the new Postbank Black Cards, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has confirmed that Postbank has not yet applied for a full banking licence.
The SARB told GroundUp: “Postbank must apply in terms of section 16 of the Banks Act for registration as a bank, the granting of which application is subject to/dependent on compliance with the provisions contemplated under section 17 of the Banks Act. The Prudential Authority has not received an application in this regard.”
Instead, Postbank operates as a Designated Clearing System Participant (DCSP) under the National Payment System Act, which allows it to issue payment instruments such as the SASSA Gold and Postbank Black Cards without a full banking licence, according to the Reserve Bank.
Postbank told GroundUp that “becoming a fully-fledged commercially licenced bank is part of Postbank’s broader mandate to establish itself into South Africa’s state-owned bank”, and that it “still very much intends to apply for a banking licence … and is on track with the project timelines to do so”.
SASSA spokesperson Paseka Letsatsi said they were aware of the licence under which Postbank was operating. “There have been meetings between Postbank, the South African Reserve Bank and SASSA being an interested party. Once Postbank and SARB have concluded those discussions, SASSA will be informed of the outcomes and that will be communicated to the public,” said Letsatsi.
Chaotic Black Card rollout
In 2021, 2022 and 2023, SARB issued variation notices requiring Postbank to remove Gold Cards from the system and replace them using a new card security key by 31 March 2025. SARB said it provided instructions to ensure this deadline would be met.
Postbank initially said the transition from the Gold to the Black Card would be completed “once every Gold Card has been replaced”. But in early January, Postbank spokesperson Bongani Diako mentioned a deadline in a radio interview. “Beneficiaries are encouraged to get the new cards as soon as possible because the cards definitely should be out of the system by 31 March this year. So use the opportunity between now and end of March to get the new black card.”
From November 2024 to January 2025, Postbank issued between 2,300 and 3,500 Black Cards a day. On 7 February, Postbank set a deadline for all cards to be switched by 28 February, increasing its target to 10,400 cards per day.
Beneficiaries rushed to make the switch, often travelling long distances to reach the limited number of issuing sites. There were reports of long queues, with some people waiting for several hours or being turned away after retailers ran out of Black Cards.
On 14 February, the deadline was extended to 20 March. Gold Card holders were told their cards would no longer work after the deadline.
On 18 February, Postbank announced in Parliament plans to speed up the process by partnering with the Spar Group to introduce 200 additional service sites, and to train tellers to help ease congestion.
On 18 March, Postbank said 1.1-million people have switched to the Black Card and it was issuing more than 30,000 Black Cards a day.
On 20 March, only half of 2.6-million clients had switched. Tens of thousands of people likely left Postbank and switched to private banks instead.
On 28 March, Postbank extended the deadline again to 31 May, confirming that Gold Cards woud remain valid until then.
But in April, the Black Card rollout was abruptly suspended. The SARB said: “The temporary suspension was to enable Postbank to embed additional controls around the Postbank Black Cards, before completing the roll out”.
Postbank denied experiencing system outages with the Black Card rollout. It failed to disclose the project budget but said it was within budget, and the allocated funds were “sufficient”.
Asked why the rollout was suspended rather than scaled down, Postbank said: “The current approach to temporarily suspend the issuing of Black Cards is due to ongoing engagements [with SARB].” It confirmed plans to resume once discussions conclude.
Postbank added that its agreement with Spar remains in place and that it continues working with national retailers to ensure card services are available.
It remains unclear when the rollout will resume or what outcomes will follow discussions between SASSA, SARB and Postbank.
Meanwhile, Postbank encouraged beneficiaries to continue using either card: “Whether a Postbank customer uses a Black Card or is still using their SASSA Gold Card, they have no need to change banks as their cards are working and they have access to their grants.”
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