How minister brought SA to the brink
Zuma holds crisis meeting with Gordhan Calls grow for Dlamini’s head to roll
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma summoned Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to his official residence in Pretoria yesterday in a last-ditch effort to resolve the social grants debacle that has put the welfare of 17 million people at risk.
The urgent meeting at Mahlamba Ndlopfu was convened as evidence emerged that Dlamini’s insistence on her department continuing to use the services of a company whose contract was ruled illegal by the courts was at the centre of a crisis that has led to the resignation of her director-general as well as the sidelining of key staff.
The Sunday Times has also seen correspondence between Dlamini and Gordhan in which the two strongly disagree on how to proceed when Cash Paymaster Services’ (CPS’s) invalid contract to distribute social grants ends on March 31.
The grants payment contract was awarded to the company in a controversial tender in 2012. It was declared invalid in 2014 by the Constitutional Court, which instructed the South African Social Security Agency to reissue the tender.
Differences between the ministries spilt out into the open on Friday when the National Treasury issued a statement distancing itself from the negotiations between the department and the company.
This prompted Zuma, who was scheduled to leave for Jakarta on official business, to summon Dlamini and Gordhan at noon yesterday.
At the meeting, Zuma appears to have sided with his political ally, Dlamini. Sources privy to the proceedings said, as part of the outcomes, the department will soon announce a new deal with CPS.
“There is a general agreement that we need CPS to continue in one form or another. The meeting agreed that in the interim you do need CPS,” one senior official said soon after the meeting.
Zuma’s spokesman, Bongani Ngqulunga, would not go into details of the meeting, but said the president had instructed the two ministers to co-operate with each other. “The president directed the two ministers to make sure social grants recipients are paid on April 1,” said Ngqulunga.
The president also directed that technical teams from the two departments look at a draft agreement between the department and CPS.
In a statement issued by Zuma’s office later yesterday, the Presidency said he was “of the view that the matters are solvable”.
It added: “The ministers will keep the president briefed on progress. They assured the president that everything possible will be done to find solutions.”
Dlamini has emerged as the chief culprit in the debacle.
As the biggest crisis to hit postapartheid South Africa unfolded this week, it became clear that she had usurped the powers of executives in her department and meddled in administrative affairs.
Instead of solving the problem, her actions directly led to a situation where millions of South Africans are wondering if they will be paid their pensions and grants come April 1.
“This is a self-made crisis. Everyone . . . is concerned with ensuring the grants are paid as of April, but no one is looking at how Dlamini created this mess,” a senior government official told the Sunday Times.
Dlamini, a staunch supporter of Zuma and president of the ANC Women’s League, ignored crucial advice from Gordhan and some of her department officials on how to avert the crisis.
The Sunday Times can reveal that the minister’s relations with several officials crucial to the process are nonexistent, and in some cases “irreparably broken down”.
Tension between Dlamini and her director-general, Zane Dangor, led to him resigning on Friday, citing a “breakdown in the relationship between myself and the minister on the management of the processes towards ensuring grants are paid”.
The Sunday Times was able to establish through three sources — two of whom are at the Department of Social Development — that Dangor’s resignation was precipitated by a fallout with Dlamini, who was livid he had advised Sassa to file papers to the Constitutional Court, which the agency lodged with the court on Tuesday.
One source said Dlamini accused Dangor in a written message of siding with the National Treasury and allowing himself to be caught up in political fights.
“The minister’s tension with the DG comes from her [discomfort] . . . with [Dangor] . . . meeting with the governor of the Reserve Bank, [which is] responsible for the national payment system [and] controls the banking fraternity . . .
“The minister was [also] not comfortable about the meeting the DG had with his counterpart at Treasury — what does that tell you?”
“She was livid that the DG is speaking to Treasury about options,” said the other source, who has intimate knowledge of the department’s internal operations.
The third source, who is sympathetic to Dlamini, said Dangor had no right to go above the minister’s head and instruct the Sassa CEO to file papers to the Constitutional Court on Tuesday in an initial urgent application that was withdrawn less than 24 hours after it had been lodged.
“They [Dlamini and Dangor] had words and maybe he couldn’t handle it,” said the source.
Standing committee on public accounts chairman Themba Godi yesterday singled out Dlamini for caus- ing the crisis.
“It is now becoming very difficult to explain the capability of the minister to effectively run the department and discharge her responsibilities,” said Godi.
The minister snubbed a meeting in parliament on Tuesday to brief the committee on what Sassa would do to resolve the issue.
There are growing calls for Zuma to act against Dlamini.
In addition to Cosatu’s central executive committee demanding Dlamini be fired, even her allies yesterday called on Zuma to sanction her.
“There is reason to panic . . . The president will have to act on the lack of oversight,” said ANC Youth League president Collen Maine.
Maine said Dlamini must be held accountable.
“This situation ought not to have happened. Sassa and the department must be held accountable. It’s sad and disappointing. It shouldn’t have happened,” Maine said.
Sources and documentation detailed how — in her relentless quest to keep CPS as the contractor — Dlamini’s actions resulted in the department and Sassa imploding. The minister:
Ignored four options, which excluded CPS, from Gordhan on how to put measures that would ensure grants were paid out lawfully;
Meddled in the administrative affairs of Sassa to the point of bringing in advisers to run the agency; ý Ran a parallel process to Sassa; ý Parachuted in a so-called “work stream” team to direct the social services agency;
Overruled Sassa and executives in the department on possible payment solutions; and
Withdrew the state attorney involved in the Constitutional Court on Tuesday when Sassa filed court
This is a self-made crisis . . . no one is looking at how Dlamini created this mess It is now becoming very difficult to explain the capability of the minister to effectively run the department
papers requesting the court to allow it to continue using CPS. She then irregularly appointed Tim Sukazi as the attorney representing Sassa.
Sukazi, a lawyer and prominent soccer agent, is one of three consultants who scored multimillion-rand contracts for advising Dlamini.
Dlamini’s spokeswoman, Lumka Oliphant, said: “The minister cannot reply to . . . corridor gossip and, if there is anything that officials feel was done wrong, government has processes to report irregularities. Every official in the public service has an obligation to report any irregularity in terms of the Public Finance Management Act.”
An official with knowledge of Dlamini’s actions said the minister had always planned to carry on with CPS.
This week Gordhan again wrote to Dlamini advising her to remove herself from administrative processes after she had requested a deviation to appoint CPS.