Anxious pensioners spent the night sleeping outside post offices in Mthatha and Ngqeleni in the hope of getting their pensions on Tuesday. However, they were told that there were issues with cash deliveries in some parts of the country, leading to delayed payouts.

Elderly people began arriving at post offices in Mthatha and Ngqeleni in the Eastern Cape late on Monday night, with some arriving in the early hours of Tuesday morning. They got what little sleep they could under the circumstances.

Then, on Tuesday morning, they were told that the pension payments would be delayed.

The pensioners said the government needed to bring back mobile payment units as they were risking their lives by sleeping outside post offices.

Under a previous South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) system, vehicles with cash withdrawal facilities travelled to rural areas to allow recipients easy access to their grants. Postbank has since been handling distribution.

Those who had slept outside post offices said they were anxious about getting their money as they had hungry children at home.

Their frustration quickly turned to anger when post office staff explained that they were awaiting the delivery of cash.

Daily Maverick tried to get clarity from the managers of the Mthatha and Ngqeleni post offices, but was told that they were in a meeting to sort out the problem.

Both the Department of Social Development and Sassa declined to answer questions, saying it was for Postbank to respond.

Postbank...