MPs hit out at Dlamini, SASSA over social grants crisis
Members of Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) has hit out at the conduct of Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini and the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA).
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan was summoned to explain Treasury's involvement in negotiations with Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) and SASSA.
There is uncertainty over the payment of social grants when the department's contract with CPS comes to an end on 31 March 2017.
SASSA was ordered by the Constitutional Court to find a new contractor when it ruled that the contract with CPS was invalid in 2014, but no deal has been concluded.
MPs hit out at Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini and SASSA over their handling of the issue.
"It's not vague. It's very clear-cut. Someone is busy driving this vehicle into a ditch and all of us must just go blindly," said EFF MP Ntombovuyo Mente.
"Now we are sitting here facing a situation which is not an act of God. It is an act of an individual that has been holding an AK-47 to our heads," added Mente.
The IFP's Mkhuleko Hlengwa accused CPS of being thieves and crooks, questioning why government was doing business with them.
"We are being put into panic mode for a deliberate act, a failure to lead and a failure to comply," said Hlengwa.
Hlengwa said they need to look at the interest of the beneficiaries.
"Whatever happens, I would find it to be a great injustice to our people if CPS continues to be a service provider in this instance," says Hlengwa.
Scopa chairperson Themba Godi took aim at Dlamini for her conduct in front of the committee last week.
"I probably speak for all my colleagues to say the bravado that was displayed here last week from that chair appears to have been totally misplaced in terms of the sense of having everything under control and the processes unfolding as it was articulated," said Godi.
Godi said there is a crisis of confidence in terms of how this simple process has been managed.
"We can't overemphasise our outcry around this company called CPS and how any self-respecting South African would want to perpetuate this insult called CPS. It just boggles my mind," said Godi.