In a hard-hitting directive, the Constitutional Court has ordered the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) to provide it with its detailed plans to ensure the uninterrupted payment of social grants after Cash Paymaster Services’s (CPS’s) extended contract expires at the end of March 2018.
The court has ordered Sassa to report back to it by December 8 with details of matters such as "definite roles and responsibilities, precise timelines, dependencies, desired outcome and risk mitigation". The court also ordered Sassa to co-operate with the expert panel it appointed earlier in 2017.
One legal expert said the unprecedented nature of the order reflected the fact the court was dealing with a failed political process. "The court is being forced to deal with the reality that Bathabile Dlamini [social development minister] should have been fired. Now we have administration law clashing with political and commercial reality."
The directions, which were released last week, indicate the court intended to micromanage Sassa’s obligations as it oversees the winding down of the CPS contract. After filing the initial detailed plan on December 8, Sassa will have to report to the court monthly on the progress achieved in implementing the plan as well as the steps taken to mitigate risk. Sassa must also report any other matters that ought to be brought to the attention of the court.
The latest intervention by the court appears to have been prompted by the expert panel that was appointed to query Sassa’s ability to ensure that social grants would be paid after March 2018.
The panel’s first report painted a damning picture of Sassa’s ability to deal with the deadline: "there is virtually no likelihood of Sassa appointing service provider(s) in time to allow the issuance of new Sassa cards and the implementation of a new beneficiary enrolment system and cash distribution pay points by April 1 2018", reported the panel.
It said the Sassa executive committee did not appreciate the scope of activities required to ensure a successful and seamless transition to a new service provider. It also criticised Sassa for its repeated failure to provide it with timeous access to information such as feasibility studies and strategy documents. This failure restricted the panel’s ability to carry out its court obligations.
The court has now ordered Sassa to "forthwith and fully comply with any present or future request by the panel of experts for access to information held by Sassa". It must also provide, in one comprehensive document, detailed information about all the entities involved in the payment of social grants.
The court order supports a recommendation contained in the panel’s report aimed at encouraging the involvement of the commercial banks in social grant distribution.
It requests the Government Communication and Information System to develop and implement a communication plan to inform recipients of the implications of the shift from CPS and "of the benefits of receiving their social grants via bank accounts provided by a commercial bank or financial institution of their choice".
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