D-Day at hand for Dlamini and Barnes
• MPs set a deadline for social-grants payment plan
Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini and South African Post Office CEO Mark Barnes have until Wednesday to come up with a credible plan to phase out Net1 UEPS subsidiary Cash Paymaster Services in the distribution of social grants. Dlamini and Barnes were ordered by Parliament to come up with the plan as the South African Social Security Agency has six months left to ensure it takes over the distribution of social grants.
Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini and South African Post Office CEO Mark Barnes have until Wednesday to come up with a credible plan to phase out Net1 UEPS subsidiary Cash Paymaster Services in the distribution of social grants.
Dlamini and Barnes were ordered by Parliament to come up with the plan as the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has six months left to ensure it takes over the distribution of social grants.
Dlamini said in East London on Monday that the provision of social grants to more than 17million beneficiaries would go to open tender after it was found the Post Office did not have the capacity to perform this task.
Both Dlamini and Barnes were in Parliament on Tuesday for a status update in implementing the Constitutional Court order.
Contrary to Dlamini’s remarks in East London, Barnes said on Wednesday that the Post Office was ready and capable of assisting Sassa with rolling out the provision of grants from April 2018.
He made the comments during a joint meeting of the standing committee on public accounts and the portfolio committee on social development.
Dlamini had also previously said there were requirements the Post Office did not meet to qualify to facilitate the payment of grants.
Telecommunications and Postal Services Minister Siyabonga Cwele said at the joint meeting on Tuesday that despite the Post Office being briefed on expectations as a potential service provider, the accounting officers of the two entities had not been able to find each other.
The Post Office falls under Cwele’s department.
“I will be limited in my responses, but my task is to oversee these entities as one who must account to Parliament. The advice I received is that the project owner is Sassa and we are just a willing organ of state, [which is] there to assist another. That is why I am very cautious about this procurement thing because we don’t see it that way,” said Cwele.
Standing public accounts committee chairman Themba Godi said the committees would forward the presentations from Sassa and the Post Office to the office of National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete and wait for the parties to come back to them with an agreement on Wednesday evening.
“We will go to the speaker’s office, meet with [chair of chairs Cedrick] Folick and give him this report. We will tell him everyone will meet at 6pm and we hope from your side as Sassa and [the Post Office] we receive an agreement,” said Godi in closing the meeting.