Stop incompetence and up your game, MPs tell Sassa

UNHAPPY MPs have ordered the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) to up its game and accused top managers of incompetence for the shambolic handling of the social grant payment system.

Sassa’s management and Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini appeared before the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) yesterday, to update MPs on their progress regarding the implementation of the Constitutional Court order made in March.

Sassa told MPs that service provider Cash Pay Master Services (CPS) would be replaced within the next 12 months.

But Scopa chairman Themba Godi said he was not happy that Sassa was still addressing the matter in tentative terms.

“There is something that does not sit well,” Godi said.

Inkatha Freedom Party MP Mkhuleko Hlengwa said: “kukhona okushaya amanzi” (there is something sinister).

“The CPS deal remains in place for no other reason than the fact that failing to plan is planning to fail,” Hlengwa said.

“I’ll only be convinced by a tangible timeline which says we’re here. Sassa needs to play ball. This is work that should have been done long ago.”

DA MP Tim Brauteseth said: “We need to see consequences. Up your game, Sassa. It is this level of incompetence that has led us to where we are.

ANC’s Nyami Booi said the committee would be a thorn in Sassa’s side until it improved. “We’re not going away,” he said.