NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

By Nick Hedley

The SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) is toying with the use of mobile money technology to distribute grants.

Mobile money largely fizzled in SA in 2016, when Vodacom and MTN pulled the plug on their offerings. Though they were doing well in other markets, they struggled to gain traction at home because of SA’s high rate of banking inclusion relative to the rest of the continent.

But as Sassa searches for new ways in which to pay social grants when Net1’s Cash Paymaster Services finally hands over the reins in September, it’s possible that mobile money could make a comeback.

The technology “is under consideration for future use, and consultations are under way”, Sassa spokesperson Kgomoco Diseko tells the FM.

Photo courtesy of John Hogg.