Dlamini ‘should pay Sassa costs’
Former social development minister Bathabile Dlamini acted unreasonably and negligently time and again during the social grants fiasco, according to the Black Sash.
Former social development minister Bathabile Dlamini acted unreasonably and negligently time and again during the social grants fiasco, according to the Black Sash.
This led to the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) repeatedly approaching the Constitutional Court at the last minute for exemptions.
The Black Sash has filed an answering affidavit to the apex court, detailing why it believes that Dlamini and former acting Sassa CEO Pearl Bhengu should pay the costs of the matter from their own pockets.
Dlamini is fighting two court findings: one made in 2018 and the other delivered in 2017, both of which raised the issue of whether she should pay costs.
The revelation that Sassa would not be able to take over grants once the contract of Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) expired in April 2017 caused panic about whether the millions of beneficiaries would get their money.
Under Dlamini’s stewardship, Sassa approached the Constitutional Court twice in a year to request that the court allow the agency to extend the illegal contract with CPS.
It was the Constitutional Court that had pronounced the contract illegal and granted its extension with conditions attached, including setting timelines for Sassa to take over the distribution of social grants.
In the February budget, former finance minister Malusi Gigaba said social grants would rise to R193bn in 2018-19.
Dlamini has argued that she acted in good faith and should not “in law” be held personally liable for costs.
She also questioned whether it was appropriate in a constitutional democracy to hold government officials, who were performing their discretionary functions, personally liable for cost orders in legal matters.
The Black Sash countered that Dlamini had not provided an adequate explanation for why Sassa approached the court in February 2018, when it was clear two months before that the agency would not be able to take over all grant payments.
She also provided no account of the steps she personally took to ensure compliance with the 2017 order that Sassa take over payments and end its contract with CPS by April 2018.
“She demonstrates no personal oversight or sense of urgency or even acknowledgement that this was required of her,” the Black Sash said. It said the claim of good faith was difficult to sustain considering that the court had dealt with her obligations as minister in 2017 and yet in 2018 she had repeated the same conduct of not approaching the court on time.
The Black Sash also argued that the Constitutional Court was not considering whether to impose a sanction on a member of the executive for her general conduct as minister.
The organisation was considering whether a personal cost order ought to be made to remedy Dlamini’s conduct, which resulted in litigation.