Dlamini misses Concourt deadline for third time

SOCIAL Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini has for the third time missed a Constitutional Court deadline.

Dlamini was supposed to file papers with the Constitutional Court by 4pm yesterday, explaining why she should not be held personally liable for legal costs in the case between the South African Social Security Agency and Freedom Under Law.

But when the court registrar locked the doors at 4.15pm, her affidavit had not been filed.

The first Constitutional Court deadline that Dlamini missed was a directive to provide answers on why she and the department did not approach the court earlier to inform them about not being ready to pay grants and to provide clarity on who was responsible for the crisis.

She then missed another deadline to explain why she had filed her answers late.

Chief justice spokesperson Nathi Mncube said: “By the time we all went home at (4.30pm), we had still not received anything.”

In a statement, Dlamini claimed the affidavit was filed electronically on time. She claimed the 140-page affidavit bounced back because the files were too large.

“Twenty-six copies of the same had to be hand-delivered so as to be filed at court. The court could not accept the filing without confirmation of the electronic service,” her spokesperson Lumka Oliphant said. “As for the minister, she has done the affidavit as per the court order and the court was copied in the electronic service.”