Pensioners collect their grant money on March 1 in Mpumalanga.
The Constitutional Court has given the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) until Monday, March 12, to answer a number of questions about grant payments.
Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng issued the directives on Wednesday, saying Sassa must provide information on who was responsible for deciding that the agency cannot pay grants itself after March 2017, and the date when that person became aware that Sassa could not pay grants itself.
Currently, Sassa relies on Cash Paymaster Service (CPS) to deliver grants to 17-million beneficiaries. The CPS contract expires on March 31 and although Sassa has been negotiating with the company, an agreement has yet to be signed.
Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini, in a briefing with Parliament’s public accounts committee on Tuesday, indicated that government technicians are studying the agreement.
In 2014, the Concourt ruled that Sassa’s current contract with CPS is unlawful because regular tender processes were not followed. But it extended the contract to March 31 to give the agency time to put an alternative system in place.
But Sassa has said that a contract with CPS is the only way the agency will be able to deliver grants after March 2017.
On Wednesday, Mogoeng directed Sassa to tell the court whether it had entered into “any agreement” with CPS in relation to grant payments on April 1. The chief justice said that if an agreement had been negotiated, then the full details of the agreement must be relayed to the court by Monday, March 13.
Mogoeng told the agency that it should show each step it has taken to comply with the law with regards to a new agreement with CPS.
The Constitutional Court has summoned Sassa to appear on March 15 in a matter related to an application filed by civic organisation the Black Sash. The group has argued that the court should allow Sassa to continue its relationship with CPS. The Black Sash has also asked the Constitutional Court to reinstate its supervisory jurisdiction over Sassa, after it discharged its oversight in November 2015.
Sassa had argued at that point that it could pay grants itself, but has now said that it is unable to do.
Dlamini has said that the technical report on the newCPS agreement will be concluded by Friday.