Black Sash slams minister over grants
• Suspension of efforts to find distributor for cash payments makes it unlikely a service provider will be found by deadline, says NGO
The Black Sash has criticised the social development minister for suspending efforts by the South African Social Security Agency to find a new service provider for the cash-payments portion of the social grants.
The Black Sash has slammed the decision by the social development minister to suspend efforts by the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) to find a new service provider to handle the cash-payments portion of the social grants.
The NGO said the suspension made it highly unlikely a new service provider would be appointed and fully operational by end-September 2018. “We are working with shifting deadlines yet again, as the minister’s papers [filed with the Constitutional Court] give no indication of new timeframes for this tender process,” said the Black Sash’s Lynette Maart.
In papers filed with the court, Social Development Minister Susan Shabangu said she was mindful of the September 30 deadline “and I have every intention to ensure that Sassa complies with its obligations within the stated timeframe, despite my decision to suspend the tender”. However, she provided no new deadlines.
The minister described how the tender process was technically flawed and had to be scrapped. The shock decision coincides with the unexpected appointment of a new acting CEO at Sassa. Abraham Mahlangu replaces Pearl Bhengu, who is regarded as an ally of former minister Bathabile Dlamini. He becomes the fourth Sassa CEO in three years.
On Thursday, Shabangu told the court that the terms of reference in the tender had been returned to Sassa’s bid-specification committee three times for clarity and amendments.
The lack of clarity was raised by potential bidder G4S, which said that the tender document failed to provide bidders with accurate information about the number of beneficiaries to be serviced and that “the further information provided by Sassa to the bidders was inadequate, contained discrepancies and made it impossible for bidders to come up with a proper costing model”, the minister said.
She said G4S had made a compelling argument on the inaccuracies in the tender documentation. “The issues raised by G4S could not be overlooked and consequently called for the suspension of the tender to resolve complaints raised by G4S,” said the minister. She also called for Sassa’s bid-evaluating committee to be reconstituted as it lacked individuals with the necessary technical skills set.
In December, when the tender process was launched, Black Sash raised concerns about the lack of technical information provided to bidders, saying that it could lead to challenges and delays.
In March the court granted a six-month extension to Sassa’s invalid contract with Net1 subsidiary Cash Paymaster Services to ensure cash payments to an estimated 2.8-million social grant beneficiaries would continue. Critics of CPS, who regarded the extension as necessary to secure the cash payments, accepted it reluctantly.
On Thursday, the Net1 share price fell 8.94% in low-volume trade to close at R91.97.