Cape Town – The search for a new service provider to assist the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) with cash payments of social grants will only be in place by July, MPs have heard.
Sassa admitted in court papers filed on Monday that there was no feasible solution to assist around 2.8 million beneficiaries – roughly 26% of the scheme, who receive their grants in cash – before the April 1 deadline
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The South African Social Security Agency’s (Sassa) contingency plan to manage the cash component of the social grants system, were the Constitutional Court to deny an extension of the invalid CPS contract, was only work in progress, its acting CEO has said.
The Constitutional Court last week demanded that both Sassa and the South African Post Office (Sapo) clarify the contingency measures, put in place to deal with the payment of social grants.
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Come April 1, beneficiaries will receive their social grants, but the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) will still need the help of Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) to make it happen.
Sassa announced in a joint press conference with the South African Post Office (Sapo) on Thursday that the two had made strides to ensure that South Africa’s 17-million grant beneficiaries will be paid on time.
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The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) does not have alternative plans if the court refuses to extend the Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) contract by another six months, the Constitutional Court heard on Tuesday.
“There will be chaos,” Nazeer Cassim, the advocate for Sassa, argued before a full Bench.
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The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has come under fire for failing to adequately explain to the Constitutional Court why it waited until the last hour before requesting an extension of the invalid Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) contract.
Sassa is seeking to extend its contract with CPS, to distribute social grants, for a further six months.
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Pretoria – Civil organisation Corruption Watch turned to the Gauteng High Court, in Pretoria, for an order setting aside the decision of the South African Social Services Agency (Sassa) to pay R317 million to Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) regarding the registration and payment of grant beneficiaries.
Corruption Watch want CPS to pay back the money, together with interest, to the public coffers, pending a recalculation of what the proven amount due to CPS is.
Sassa earlier withdrew its opposition to the review application, while CPS is defending the matter.
Advocate Steven Budlender, acting for Corruption Watch, on Thursday argued that the decision taken by Sassa to vary a services contract with CPS for the distribution of social grant payments to the poorest of society, is at the heart of this case.
Corruption Watch is of the opinion that the variation, which resulted in Sassa paying CPS R317 million, was unlawful.
Budlender said the money was paid in circumstances where the parties had not even agreed a cost for the varied services and where Sassa had failed to establish that this amount was even owed to CPS.
“This is irrational,” he said.
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State of the Nation Address by the President of the Republic of South Africa, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, 16 February 2018, Parliament
Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms Baleka Mbete,
Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces, Ms Thandi Modise,
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THE South African Post Office (Sapo) has assured Parliament it is ready to pay social grants for the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) from April 1. The portfolio committee on telecommunications and postal services welcomed the news. Briefing the portfolio committee on Sapo’s readiness to take over the payment of social grants, chief operating officer Lindiwe Kwele said the state-owned enterprise was on course to produce a total of 10.6 million Sassa branded bank cards by June 2018.
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The SA Social Security Agency has asked the Constitutional Court to extend its contract with Cash Paymaster Services to distribute social grants until September The contract Sassa currently has with CPS was declared invalid by the Constitutional Court‚ but it extended it to the end of March after the agency failed to find a new..
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One of Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini’s closest aides has accused her of trying to thwart the Constitutional Court’s rulings on Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) in a revealing affidavit filed with the high court in Pretoria. Sipho Shezi was Dlamini’s full-time adviser from 2013 until she fired him last year. He had worked with Zane..
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In with the new‚ out with the old. The SA Social Security Agency and the SA Post Office have reached a landmark agreement to usher in a new social grant payment system that will see recipients getting their grants from banks‚ various merchants and spaza shops. The agreement was finalised on November 17 and the..
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A letter by National Treasury to acting South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) CEO Pearl Bhengu says the agency should not have disqualified the South African Post Office (SAPO) from three possible services in the social grants scheme. Treasury was given a week last Wednesday to review all the deal points of the then-collapsing deal..
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The department of social development may find itself in a similar situation with foster care grants as it did earlier in 2017 when it missed the Constitutional Court’s deadline to take over the payment of social grants. According to GroundUp, thousands of foster care placement orders will expire on December 31, which means that the..
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In Sassa’s latest financial statements tabled in Parliament on Friday, the Auditor General says the agency did not take effective steps to prevent the irregular expenditure. The Auditor General has deemed the R43 million spent by the South Africa Social Security Agency (Sassa) on so-called work streams to have been irregular. In Sassa’s latest financial..
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Over the past five years Cash Paymaster Systems recorded a pre-tax profit of R1.1-billion from paying social grants on behalf of the government, the outsourced service provider told the Constitutional Court on Tuesday. After tax the net profit came to R705-million, the now infamous American-listed company said. That translates to a profit to shareholders of..
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