Grants: SAHRC wants to meet Dlamini

THE South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) said yesterday it has requested an urgent meeting with Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini to discuss the lack of clarity on the payment of social grants.

There are heightened fears around the payment of social grants as the current contract with Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) ends this month. No new arrangements have been finalised to pay social grants in April to 17 million recipients.

A statement issued by spokesperson Gail Smith said the SAHRC had “requested an urgent meeting” with Dlamini and Thokozani Magwaza, the chief executive officer of the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa), to discuss the lack of clarity on the payment.

“The commission has written a letter to (Dlamini and Magwaza…, requesting an urgent meeting for both bodies to fully brief the commission on its intended plan of action to ensure that indeed 17 million South Africans receive their social grants after March 31.”

The SAHRC said it also wanted to discuss the impact on beneficiaries if Sassa failed to pay out social grants from April 1.

“In line with its constitutional mandate to promote and protect human rights, the commission has been closely monitoring the progress in relation to the payment of social grant beneficiaries by Sassa,” said the SAHRC.

“The commission has noted the troubling reports that social grants may not be paid from April and is deeply concerned by the devastating impact the potential non-payment of social grants could have on millions of vulnerable households for whom social grants represent the sole form of regular income.”

The SAHRC said more than half of all households in South Africa benefited from social assistance, and for 22% of these households, social grants were the main source of income.

As such, social assistance provided a safety net for some of the most vulnerable in our society.