Sassa ‘kept CPS on hold till last minute’
Executives from Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) have had in-depth discussions with the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) over the past year about the payment of 17-million social grants after March 31, but there was no formal expression of intent by Sassa until Thursday.
During a conference call with analysts on Friday, Serge Belamant, the CEO of CPS holding company Net1 UEPS, said CPS had spent time with numerous Sassa executives and committees over the past year, making sure they were aware of “our solution”.
He said those in-depth discussions were not shared with either the Treasury or members of the public, “who don’t really understand the enormous complexity of what this job entails”.
Thursday’s letter was the first formal communication between Sassa and CPS. Although it is just seven weeks from the crucial deadline, Sassa was still only seeking an “exploratory meeting” with CPS, with a view to discussing the transition of the Sassa contract and establishment of a new service model.
Belamant told analysts on Friday that CPS promptly responded that it was willing to attend an urgent meeting as requested. “It is not clear if our contract could be extended under the Public Finance Management Act or if a new transition contract would be required,” he said. He could not predict when or if Sassa would approach the Constitutional Court, what the outcome of such an approach would be or what the terms and conditions of any agreement between Sassa and CPS would be.
At a parliamentary briefing on February 1, Sassa executives told MPs that the agency intended approaching the court to seek guidance on its plans for ensuring continued payment of social grants. Sassa has not confirmed speculation that it will file with the court on Wednesday.
Belamant said he was fully aware of the critical nature of the service provided by CPS. “We remain committed to assist our social grant recipients, Sassa and the South African government within the ambit of all the relevant laws and regulations.”
Belamant used the opportunity to hit back at what he described as painful “unbridled slander” about corruption in the Sassa contract. He said the slander directed against CPS
had no basis in fact and was disseminated by people with their own political interests “aided and abetted by certain sections of the media who fail to separate out facts from fiction”.
Corruption Watch’s David Lewis said the Constitutional Court’s ruling in 2012 was restricted to Sassa’s management of the tender. “CPS was not in court so no finding could be made against it,” said Lewis. CPS and Belamant had not been cleared by court because they had never been in court.
Corruption Watch is engaged in high court action aimed at setting aside a R275m payment by Sassa to CPS. The action is against Sassa but CPS was required to file papers by the end of January and has not yet done so. Last week Belamant incorrectly said that CPS had already filed papers.