‘Bathabile pushed Sassa boss’
Scopa chairperson Godi says Magwaza’s exit will not affect investigation
The sudden resignation of SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) CEO Thokozani Magwaza has put a spanner on the completion of the agency’s contract with the Post Office to distribute social grants.
Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) chairman Themba Godi said Magwaza’s resignation might thwart the pending Post Office contract.
“Magwaza has been singleminded about this contract and we hope that his departure will not put into disarray the progress that he has made,” Godi said.
Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini announced Magwaza’s resignation late yesterday, just hours after threats to his life became known.
According to media reports, Magwaza was being pressured by a third party to take a “lucrative exit package” to leave the agency. His refusal escalated to threats which the department said it was not aware of.
The threats followed Magwaza’s stand-off with Dlamini over the minister’s R47-million contracts that Magwaza cancelled after the Treasury found them to be illegal.
Magwaza was also scheduled to testify against Dlamini about her role in the recent social grants payments saga.
At the time of his departure, Magwaza had been steadfast in negotiating and concluding the grant distribution contract with the SA Post Office. This was expected to begin once the contract with Cash Paymaster Services expires in March 2018.
Godi said Scopa would make sure that order prevailed within Sassa and that the contract went ahead as planned.
He assured that the resignation would not hinder the coming inquiry between Magwaza a nd Dlamini.
“We’ve had submission from the former DG [director-general] and this resignation won’t disqualify Magwaza at all from being part of the inquiry,” he said. He said Magwaza did not leave on his will.
“Minister Bathabile [Dlamini] pushed him. She told him to go because their relationship had broken down. She was not even there to protect him regarding the death threats he was facing.”
However, the department’s spokeswoman, Lumka Oliphant, said in a statement that Magwaza’s contract was terminated “after a consultative process led by the head of legal services, Nkosinathi Dladla, in terms of the provisions of his [Magwaza] contract of employment”.
Sassa spokesman Paseka Letsatsi referred all questions to the department.
‘ ‘ Minister Bathabile pushed him. She told him to go ...