With a sick, or possibly suspended CEO, no back-up plan and exactly one month in which to finalise the payment of nearly 18 million social grants, the SA Social Security Agency presented a shambolic picture to parliament yesterday, with Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini dodging any backlash by simply not attending.
And Standing Committee on Public Accounts chairman Themba Godi didn't hold back, lambasting the organisation for its conduct.
Yesterday Sassa appeared before parliament's watchdog, Scopa, to account for more than R1-billion in irregular expenditure and to answer questions on what committee chairman Godi called "the elephant in the room" - the payment of social grants on April 1.
But, with Dlamini absent, and acting CEO Thamo Mzobe, holding the position for less than an hour, the committee quickly realised that it would not be getting many answers to their questions.
"It's unfortunate that the minister is not here. At this juncture, it's more than just administrative, it's political.
"The real issue is in the economic exclusion of the majority of people," said Godi.
"Sassa is the one that mitigates against a revolution of the poor and, if you mess up, then you must know that everything will go up in flames, either practically or in 2019 [at the country's next election].
"If we have any semblance of respect for our people and the poor, here is the opportunity to prove it," he said.
The committee heard that CEO Thokozwane Magwaza was ill, apparently with hypertension, and would be on sick leave for seven days.
Mzobe had officially been signed into the position.
MPs were sceptical following reports that Magwaza had been suspended; some questioned whether he was merely trying to avoid taking responsibility for the Sassa shambles .
Several MPs from across party lines were visibly angered that Dlamini and Magwaza were not present to account. ANC MP Nyami Booi said of the acting CEO: "She has no clue what she is doing here."
They threatened a parliamentary inquiry into the payment of social grants.
Dlamini told a press conference scheduled in parliament at the same time as the committee that she hadn't attended because she felt that she needed to account to the social development committee, which she had done last week.
She said at her last appearance before Scopa, the "whole thing became a discussion about grants and I don't know how we arrived there because what I know is that at Scopa, you discuss the issues of unauthorised expenditure".
She said she "had not seen a letter suspending the CEO. Maybe some have seen it. I just know that the CEO is on sick leave."
She said all other issues around the payment of grants would be answered during a press conference today.
The contract for the payment of social grants with Cash Paymaster Services, declared invalid by the Constitutional Court three years ago, was allowed to run to completion to allow the Department of Social Development to create its own in-house payment system.
With just one month left of the contract, project manager Zodwa Mvulane told the committee that negotiations for a new contract are due to start today.
NGO Black Sash has asked the Constitutional Court to ensure Cash Paymaster is used to pay grants from April 1 after its contract expires. The organisation filed papers at the ConCourt late yesterday, just hours before the Social Security Agency went to the Constitutional Court to ask that Cash Paymaster Services contract be extended by a year.
Sassa was advised by a lawyer in October to get the court's permission to extend the Cash Paymaster Services contract, but waited until yesterday before filing papers.
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