Minister mauled over ‘dodgy contract’

Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini, pictured, yesterday went on the offensive in Parliament, denying there is an impending social grant crisis.

But she faced a barrage of criticism from opposition parties.

Firing the opening salvo in the debate on the matter, Inkatha Freedom Party MP Liezl van der Merwe said a “dodgy contract” was at the heart of the crisis accompanied by a social development department guilty of “mal-adminisration, gross negligence and incompetency”.

“At the heart of this crisis is a dodgy tender, a rogue minister and a ruling party that no longer cares for the poor,” charged Van der Merwe.

Dlamini was the “culprit” responsible for the “deficiency of accountability”, she added, before targeting Parliament’s presiding officers for allowing the minister to “duck and dive accountability”.

Referring to the 2014 court judgment, which found the contract between the South Africa Social Security Agency and Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) invalid, Van der Merwe said little to nothing had been done in the three years since then, which eventually led to the prospect that an illegal contract would have to be extended. “Today we need Minister Dlamini to take personal and political responsibility for this crisis by vacating her office, failing which President [Jacob] Zuma must act.”

However, this was unlikely as Dlamini and Zuma were “besties”, she added.

IFP MP Mkhuleko Hlengwa was even more scathing: “She is a threat to social security in this country,” he said.

As Dlamini took to the podium, dressed in ANC colours, she was loudly supported by ANC backbenchers. “I would like to reiterate that there is no crisis at Sassa. We have without fail been paying the right grant to the right person at the right time and ... will continue doing so without fail come April first and beyond.”

She blamed the confusion around the payment of grants on “prophets of doom”, in an apparent reference to opposition parties.