Three weeks left before the SASSA grants payment deadline
6 March 2017
Yesterday’s press conference held by Minister Dlamini did not reveal any solutions to the crisis of grant payments from 1 April 2017. The details of the proposed future Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) contract have not been disclosed.
In 2012 the South African Social Assistance Agency (SASSA) contracted CPS to pay social grants on its behalf. The contract was declared invalid by the Constitutional Court in 2013. This order of invalidity was suspended in April 2014.
SASSA filed a report with the Constitutional Court on 5 November 2015, stating that it would not award a new contract, but instead intended to take over the payment of social grants from 1 April 2017, when the suspension of invalidity would lapse. The ConCourt then discharged its supervisory role in this regard.
SASSA is not able to take over the payment of social grants on 1 April 2017. It appears that at this stage, a revised or new contract between SASSA and CPS is the only way to ensure that grant beneficiaries are paid on 1 April 2017. SASSA now intends to enter into a further contract with CPS to continue this function for an unspecified period.