Probe ordered into payments system crash

ABOUT 1 500 child maintenance beneficiaries were reportedly left without their monthly payments since April after the Justice Department’s electronic payment system crashed.

This prompted Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola to instruct acting director-general Jacob Skosana to determine what caused the crash and to prevent such incidents in future.

Lamola revealed this in a written response to parliamentary questions by DA MP Chantel King, who asked for details regarding the MojaPay system crash of May 4. King also sought to establish whether the database containing the details of beneficiaries was accurately stored in the system.

Lamola said: “It unfortunately crashed during the level 4 lockdown, and as a result several beneficiaries did not receive their maintenance benefits.”

Lamola said that all provinces were affected.

He estimated 1 500 beneficiaries could not receive their money.

“It is for this reason that I have directed the acting director-general to investigate this matter further. The investigation will include the cause of the crash and its wider impact, besides the maintenance payments.

“The investigation is with a view of ensuring that appropriate corrective action is taken to avoid recurrence in the future,” he added.