Stop milking state coffers at expense of most vulnerable
OUTA condemns, in the strongest terms, Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini’s ongoing manipulation of the needs of the poorest of the poor to suit her own agenda.
“The Minister and SASSA are refusing to prepare for the exit of Cash Paymaster Services and are instead continuing to entrench CPS’s position,” says Dominique Msibi, OUTA’s Portfolio Manager for Social Services and Special Projects. Msibi was commenting after reading the latest report by the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and the Minister to the Constitutional Court.
SASSA acting CEO Pearl Bengu and the Minister told the Constitutional Court in their December report that they need their legally invalid contract with CPS to run for “at least” another six months beyond the Concourt’s already extended deadline of 31 March 2018. This is to ensure that all the grants will be paid after 1 April 2018, they say.
The SASSA report says that this means that a formal application for the suspension of declaration of invalidity of the CPS contract and its subsequent extension will be lodged with the Constitutional Court. However, the Constitutional Court confirmed this week that no such application has been received yet.
“This delay makes the situation even worse and appears to be an attempt to force the Constitutional Court to accept an extension to the illegal CPS contract,” says Msibi.