Bathabile Dlamini pays up for social grants crisis 

Former minister of social development Bathabile Dlamini has reportedly paid costs to NGOs relating to a Constitutional Court order in 2018. 

The order came after Dlamini was found to have been “unreasonable” and “negligent” in the way she handled the social grants crisis.

It stated she had to pay a portion of the costs of litigation brought by the Black Sash Trust and Freedom Under Law.

University of the Witwatersrand Centre for Applied Legal Studies, which represented the Black Sash Trust, reported on Thursday morning that the R650,000 owed to the NGOs expressed relief at Dlamini’s eventual compliance with the order. 

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Black Sash and Freedom Under Law were owed 20% of the litigation costs during their court challenge to the first extension of the Cash Paymaster Services contract for the payment of social grants.

Dlamini allegedly claimed earlier this year that she could not pay what she owed to the organisations because her ministerial pension was being blocked, Sunday Times reported.

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The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development confirmed that Dlamini’s pension was being withheld, but not for political reasons. 

“Reasons for the withdrawal of the pension are well known by the former minister and Sassa and thus far no party has contested them nor has there been any intention to do so.

“The state attorney acts upon the instruction of its client, which are the departments and state entities that it represents,” the department said in February. 

Additional reporting by Vhahangwele Nemakonde