Dlamini informs Zuma:
Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini is keeping President Jacob Zuma abreast of developments at the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) regarding the payment of social grants, the Presidency said on Wednesday.
“The president is keen that social grant beneficiaries should not be inconvenienced,” Presidency spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga said on Wednesday.
With a month to go until the contract with Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) expires, there is still uncertainty about how more than 17-million social grants will be paid on April 1.
Sassa approached the Constitutional Court on Tuesday, asking it to allow the agency to enter into negotiations with CPS for a one-year contract extension. The agency withdrew the court application less than 24 hours later.
Sassa spokesman Kgomotso Diseko said it had been withdrawn because some “inputs [were] not included”. Sassa would relodge the application, but Diseko could not say when.
Despite this, the agency started negotiations with CPS on Wednesday about an extension.
Sassa CEO Thokozani Magwaza said in the agency’s affidavit filed with the court that CPS had indicated it was “amenable to assist” in a transitional period.
There was no response from Dlamini’s office on Wednesday.
Reserve Bank National Payment System department head Tim Masela told Parliament’s social development committee on Wednesday the bank had numerous engagements with Sassa and the Department of Social Development to discuss grant-payment options.
Masela said Sassa needed to decide on a payment system “urgently”, but added the Reserve Bank could not express an opinion on whether it would be able to mitigate risks relating to the current transition or takeover of the system as the committee expected it to do. It could offer regulatory guidance.
Department director-general Zane Dangor said it was discussing the various payment options with the Reserve Bank and the Treasury.
Dangor reportedly asked to leave the briefing in Parliament, claiming he had been summoned by the Presidency.
Ngqulunga denied he had been summoned, saying Zuma spoke to ministers when he wanted to discuss matters in their departments with them.