Sassa admits it has no plan to pay out social grants

While providing feedback to parliament on Tuesday morning, the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) and the department of social development have been accounting for the impending crisis in the grants payment system.

Sassa’s Zodwa Mvulane admitted there is no programme in place to deliver grants to 17 million people on 1 April 2017.

The Constitutional Court has declared the contract with Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) illegal and gave the department a deadline to send out a new tender and get a legal solution in place.

#Sassa Bloody typical!
No accountability in this country! https://t.co/M6xnbLVZ0p

— Kobus Botes (@Ursus101) February 28, 2017

The department appears to have taken no action, in the hope that the illegal contract will simply continue by default, even though CPS has now said they will be charging far more for their services in that case. Any new contract will cost a great deal more money.

The proposed fee for distribution per recipient has now gone up to R22-R25, which DA MP Timothy Brauteseth questioned, since this would take social grants way over budget.

He said the jump from R16 to R22 was a 30% increase, and R25 would be a 50% jump.

Brauteseth says budget is R2.6bn, but 30% increase takes costs to R3bn, & 50% takes it to R3.4bn. "Why are you going over?" #SASSA @News24

— Paul Herman (@PaulHermanCPT) February 28, 2017

The standing committee on public accounts (Scopa), which is dealing with a hearing on the issue, expressed its disappointment earlier in the morning that the minister, Bathabile Dlamini, had not appeared and the Sassa CEO also appeared to have dodged accountability by already applying for sick leave for the Tuesday matter on Friday.

CEO Thokozani Magwaza was booked off for seven days due to hypertension, department deputy director-general Zane Dangor told MPs on Scopa.

An acting CEO was appointed on Monday night after Magwaza’s sudden suspension, which made the news on Tuesday.

The lady who agreed to be acting CEO today is incredibly brave or incredibly stupid…I choose the latter😞#SASSA

— chacha (@Millywolfe101) February 28, 2017

ANC MP Mnyamezeli Booi earlier said they were used to Sassa officials dodging Parliament. He said Magwaza had declared publicly in November last year that he would take responsibility for the Sassa social grants crisis, but that has not happened.

Committee chairperson Themba Godi said it was “unfortunate” Dlamini had decided not to attend the serious meeting, instead choosing to  host a press briefing as chairperson of the social protection, community and human development cluster in Parliament at 11am.

He quipped that the 1 April deadline was not an April fool’s joke.