No explanation for Sassa, Dlamini's 'incompetence'
15 March 2017
Johannesburg - A frustrated chief justice asked on Wednesday how Sassa and Minister Bathabile Dlamini came to make themselves look incompetent in the social grants payment debacle.
"How do you get to the level where your clients make themselves look like they are incompetent and you can't even explain how you got to this point?" a frustrated Mogoeng Mogoeng asked Andrew Breitenbach, for Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini and the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa), in the Constitutional Court.
Mogoeng repeatedly pressed Breitenbach for answers about why Dlamini did nothing when she learnt that Sassa would not be able to pay grants on its own. Ensuring grants got paid was one of Dlamini's core responsibilities. She should have demanded progress reports from Sassa, he insisted.
"You can't just say she was remiss. It is what she is a minister for. Please help us understand."