Altron's Bytes Systems Integration (BSI) has secured several contracts with the South African Post Office (SAPO) as it gets ready to take over distribution of social grants.
The JSE-listed company's subsidiary says it has been awarded multiple tenders worth a combined amount of close to R220 million to support SAPO with biometric technology.
The SA Social Security Agency (SASSA) grants payments process has made headlines once more this year, amid fears that millions of vulnerable beneficiaries won't receive their monies next month.
Cash Paymaster Services (CPS), a subsidiary of Net1 UEPS Technologies, has been distributing SASSA grants to 10.8 million beneficiaries on behalf of government after it was awarded the contract in 2012. The CPS contract, which was declared invalid, would have come to an end last March; however, the Constitutional Court suspended the order of invalidity and ordered its extension until 31 March 2018.
In extending the contract, the ConCourt only sought to avert a national payments crisis and also allow SASSA enough time to usher in a new services provider.
Government declared SAPO the preferred entity to take over the payments function when the extension period with the Net1 subsidiary ends.
Following a tumultuous negotiation period, last December SAPO and SASSA finally reached an agreement that will see the post office take over the payments function of social grants. Despite the agreement, there were still questions about the national postal service's ability to maintain the integrity of the biometrics verification systems.
SASSA also stressed a new social grants distributor should have a biometrics system that will not only curb unauthorised transactions, but also root out fraud.
While tenders for biometrics and grants administration systems were advertised in December, up until now there had been no word whether any contracts for the biometrics services had been awarded.
According to BSI, as part of the social security deal, it will supply, install and support Lumidigm biometric fingerprint readers to all SASSA and Postbank branches. In addition, BSI will supply, install and support Web cameras to all SASSA and PostBank branches, as well as provide training to SAPO support users.
The company says its solution will see consumers' identities being verified through biometric technology that connects directly, and in real-time, to the Home Affairs National Identification System (Hanis), as well as the SAPO biometric verification engine.
The technology also caters for the verification of a person's full names, while a copy of the person's photo, held in the Hanis database, is provided to assist in resolving so-called false negatives, it adds.
Leslie Moodley, MD of BSI, says: "Our appointment by SAPO to partner with them to provide this vital service is great for our society, as our technology is designed to support local companies facing local challenges, and we are pleased the biometric solution will assist SAPO to have a positive impact on people's lives, eliminating forgery and criminal activity in the grant dispensation process."
Meanwhile, this week the ConCourt reserved judgment in the matter of SASSA's application for permission to continue using CPS services for another six months. The agency previously noted its application is to ensure the more than 17 million social grants payments go uninterrupted at the beginning of next month.
Speaking at a media briefing this morning, SASSA acting CEO Pearl Bhengu assured South Africans that social grants will be paid on 1 April. "We remain committed to providing social assistance through grants to poor and vulnerable Africans."
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