Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini appears before Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts on Tuesday.
The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) sent an electronic copy of its answers to the Constitutional Court’s detailed questions six hours after Monday’s deadline. And, in answering one of the questions, the agency admits it knew it wouldn’t be able to pay social grants as far back as April 2016.
Sassa told the Concourt in November 2015 that it would pay grants itself after the court found in 2014 that its contract with current service provider, Cash Paymaster Service, is unlawful.
In its papers reportedly filed electronically at 10pm on Monday night and in response to questions put to it last Wednesday by the Concourt, Sassa replied that Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini became aware of this only in October 2016.
The Concourt also told the agency to provide detailed answers on who is responsible for deciding that Sassa cannot pay grants itself.
Sassa says it is the responsibility of the agency’s chief executive. In the past month, the agency has seen three chief executives after Thokozani Magwaza was placed on sick leave, and Thamo Mzobe was also reportedly admitted to hospital with “blood pressure complications”.
Its acting chief executive, Wiseman Magasela, told the Concourt in the agency’s answers that it should have made the court aware of its inability to pay grants at an earlier date. “I accept that the court ought to have been informed at a much earlier stage …”
Sassa does not have a deal with CPS, which the agency says is the only organisation capable of delivering grants on April 1. Its current contract with CPS expires on March 31, and the agency has left itself just 17 days to negotiate a new agreement.
Dlamini said in a press conference just over a week ago that Sassa’s deal with CPS would be legal, despite foregoing a normal tender process. The agency has justified its negotiations with CPS by saying it will enter into an emergency contract.
But, in its answers to the Concourt, the agency admitted it would need the approval of the treasury to allow a deviation from tender processes for the agreement to be legal.
“If national treasury approves the deviation for any resulting any [sic] interim contract, the contract will apply with the applicable legislation,” Sassa said.
But the treasury has distanced itself from the CPS deal, saying the Concourt must approve it before it agrees to such a contract.
Over the past few weeks, Dlamini has insisted that the treasury and Sassa have been working together on the deal, but the treasury has released statements saying it was not privy to the negotiating table.
Civic organisation the Black Sash will have its application heard in the Concourt on Wednesday, where Sassa and Dlamini will have to appear. The Black Sash has asked the court to reinstate its supervisory role over Sassa and to allow the CPS deal to move forward because there are no alternatives to ensure grant payments at this late stage.
While Sassa earlier told the court it does not believe it requires the court’s authority on the CPS agreement, it said in its answers on Tuesday night that it and Dlamini have no objection to independent monitoring.
The treasury will appear before Parliament’s public accounts committee today to answer questions on grants.