Workstreams were not considered relevant, says Dlamini
SHE did not inform the Constitutional Court in her affidavit that she had established workstreams because it was not relevant, Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini said at an inquiry into her role in the social grants crisis yesterday
“Paragraph 13 of the March 17 Constitutional Court order is clear,” she said.
“It concerned whether I should be joined to the proceedings in my personal capacity and whether I should be held personally liable for the costs of the Black Sash application.”
She is appearing before an inquiry into her role in the social grants saga.
Retired Judge Bernard Ngoepe is heading the inquiry.
“The work of the workstreams‚ their composition‚ objectives and technical reports were not‚ I believed‚ at issue nor relevant to the question the court raised‚” Dlamini said.
She said she did not‚ at any stage, regard the workstreams as a parallel process to that of the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa).
“I did not see that the role of Sassa was undermined by the workstreams‚” she said.
“The workstreams reported to Sassa at regular intervals.
“In contrast‚ I only had one meeting with the workstreams in which they updated me on progress.
“In the circumstances‚ I did not consider it necessary to deal with the reporting structure of the workstreams in my affidavit to the Constitutional Court.”
Early last year, the Constitutional Court ordered that an inquiry be established to set out Dlamini’s roles and responsibilities as social development minister.
The court found that it could not make an adverse order against the minister on the basis of allegations that had not been tested.
The court ordered that all parties involved appoint a judge to investigate whether Dlamini should be held liable for the grants saga.
The Black Sash Trust approached the court in March after Sassa acknowledged it would not be able to pay millions of grants from April 1‚ despite promising the court in November 2015 it would do so.