DLAMINI DUCKS AND DIVES
HOT SEAT: POINTS FINGER AT ‘MISSING’ REPORT FROM AGENCY
As members of parliament crack down on the social development minister for failing to find a new service provider to pay out social grants as per the Constitutional Court ruling in 2014, Dlamini tries to deflect blame onto the SA Social Security Agency and National Treasury.
‘You appointed the CEO. So, why should you still remain the minister?’
Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini was yesterday at pains to emphasise to unrelenting MPs of parliament’s key watchdog body that social grants would be paid at the start of next month.
But the long-awaited contract with service provider Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) is yet to be signed and sealed.
Facing a line of fire from MPs of the standing committee on public accounts, Dlamini said the finalisation of negotiations was due at the end of the week.
According to the minister, an announcement would then be made.
“I did say we would pay on the first of April and have now said so for a number of times,” Dlamini said.
“We will make an announcement after receiving the report from the technical team.”
This gives the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) and CPS two weeks to put in place plans to render payments to the 17 million social grant beneficiaries.
But MPs were not happy that a process to find a new service provider had not started in 2014, after the Constitutional Court ruling that CPS’s contract was invalid.
Chairperson of the committee Themba Godi said: “Right from the beginning, the contract with CPS had a timeframe.
“How then did we get into this emergency? I think the Constitutional Court process merely sped us on?”
Economic Freedom fighters MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said the process had showed an “avalanche of failures” to stick to deadlines.
“Why should we trust the minister?” Ndlozi asked.
Democratic Alliance MP David Ross said it was “rather late in the day to still try and close the deal”.
Inkatha Freedom Party MP Mkhuleko Hlengwa, who repeatedly shook his head and stared up at the ceiling with his hands above his head, said: “In this entire debacle, there is a failure to lead and failure to account … there is lack of leadership at this time.”
Dlamini tried to avoid blame, adding that as the executive authority, she could only intervene “when you see nothing is being done”.
She said Sassa officials had not provided her with a report last year: “I had to call them and say ‘please account’.
“If anyone wants to define that as incompetence and an avalanche of failures, you can’t stop people from passing those insinuations.”
Dlamini blamed the media and political parties for inciting panic that beneficiaries would not get their grants on April 1.
Treasury and Sassa also played a part in the delays, she claimed.
ANC MP Nyamezeli Booi then asked if the minister was suggesting that Sassa officials had not done their work.
Ndlozi said: “You appointed the CEO. You are blaming them today, which means you are the one [responsible]. These are your failures, minister. So, why should you still be the minister?”
DA MP Tim Brauteseth asked if the crisis “goes belly up” because Treasury hadn’t allocated more funding, would it also be to blame?
Treasury has said it would not fork out any more money over the budgeted R2.6 billion.
Economic Freedom Fighters’ MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi often plays for the crowd but yesterday he hit the nail on the head when he said Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini couldn’t keep running away from the social grants crisis and that she had to account for her actions.
Dlamini was summoned to face parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) yesterday over the state of affairs at the SA Social Security Agency. Dlamini may have assured the public that social grants to more than 17 million people will be paid on April 1, but the facts seem to suggest otherwise.
As a result, political parties and unions have called for her to resign. What hasn’t helped matters is that Dlamini continues to say that negotiations with current provider Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) on transfer costs are still ongoing, yet there are claims that the deal has already been concluded.
Yesterday, Dlamini once again tried to duck and dive, asking the MPs if she could leave by 11am to attend a Cabinet meeting.
Ndlozi hit back hard: “This is not church where you preach and we just say ‘amen’ and go home. The minister must account.”
What could be more important than fixing the social grants mess? With less than a month to go, millions of South Africans face the very real prospect of going hungry if their grants aren’t paid in time. This should be priority number one for Dlamini. She shouldn’t rest until this is sorted out once and for all.
What is even more staggering is that Dlamini admitted her department had underestimated the amount of work they had to do. Really? Business today reports that an exchange of letters revealed that CPS urged Sassa almost a year ago to avoid several pitfalls that could lead to a social grants crisis.
It’s simple. Dlamini must either face the music and quickly come up with a solution, or ship out.