Sassa wants social grants contract extended

THE SA Security Agency wants to extend the contract with Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) for the payment of R140-billion in social grants to about 17 million beneficiaries by one year‚ from April 1.

This emerged from a briefing by agency officials to parliament’s social development committee yesterday.

Sassa executive manager Raphaahle Ramokgopa told MPs: “This option is the only one that will ensure that beneficiaries will be paid come April 1.”

This option carried the least risk in terms of service delivery failure, she said‚ admitting that Sassa had failed to prepare itself for the takeover of social grants from April 1.

The contract with CPS was declared invalid by the Constitutional Court and for Sassa to extend it beyond the March 31 expiry date‚ it will have to ask the Constitutional Court to further extend its suspension of the invalidity of the contract for phase-out purposes.

Ramokgopa said Sassa would approach the court “as a matter of urgency since this is likely to be virtually the only mechanism to regularise such an approach.” She envisaged that this application for an extension of one year would be made by Wednesday.

Ramokgopa told the committee the medium-term plan was for Sassa to use banking infrastructure through limited banking accounts in the medium term.

Sipho Shezi, special adviser to Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini, said Sassa had agreed with the Treasury and the Reserve Bank on the payment system.

The insourcing might not happen as soon as everyone wished but it would happen‚ he said.