On Thursday, President Jacob Zuma is set to be grilled by opposition MPs in the National Assembly over Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini’s mishandling of the social grants debacle.
Zuma, who is due to appear for a question and answer session, will also face tough questions on speculation that he intends to appoint former Eskom boss and now ANC MP, Brian Molefe, to an executive position in government.
Molefe was recently sworn in as MP — a move that fuelled speculation about a pending Cabinet reshuffle. Many believe that Zuma wants Molefe to replace Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan or his deputy Mcebisi Jonas.
National Freedom Party MP Mandlenkosi Mabika will ask Zuma "whether, in light of the State of Capture report of the public protector that resulted in the resignation of Mr Brian Molefe as CEO of Eskom, he intends to appoint Mr Molefe to an executive position in the government"?
Inkatha Freedom Party MP Liezl Linda van der Merwe will ask Zuma about the steps he intends to take against Dlamini, "who has allegedly led her department into a national grant pay-out crisis, which puts the lives of the most vulnerable citizens at risk, and allegedly shown a complete disregard for the rule of law and the Constitutional Court ruling of 2014 which declared the Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) NET1contract invalid ... what lessons has the government learnt from the looming grant crisis"?
Several groups, including the Congress of South African Trade Unions, have called on Dlamini to either resign or be axed over the social grant fiasco. However, last week Zuma described the calls for her axing premature.
"I would suggest that the nation really calm down and wait for the date. Others are calling, for example, for the dismissal of the minister, but the date has not come [April 1]. How do you judge a person before the event? I think it is somewhat worrying that people seem to be having preconceived ideas on the matter," Zuma said.
The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has not yet developed a new system to pay the grants to 17-million beneficiaries and has been negotiating with CPS — its current service provider — to continue distributing the grants, but the contract with CPS expires on March 31.
While Sassa’s contract with CPS was declared invalid and unlawful by the Constitutional Court, Sassa has said it would have to renew the CPS deal, claiming there was no viable alternative.
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