EDITORIAL: Passing judgment on government failure
The citizens of SA are not stupid and they can be expected to pass judgment when the next elections are held
The judges of the constitutional court are not the sort of men and women who lose their tempers. But if they had done so in the matter of the social grants fiasco, they would have been forgiven by the country. Having given government no less than three years to sort out the invalid contract with Cash Paymaster Services (CPS), the court last week found itself with a gun to its collective head. It had no option but to extend the contract again to ensure that 17m grants would be paid at the end of March. The court’s finding on the competence of Bathabile Dlamini, the minister responsible for the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa), was blunt: “The office-holder ultimately responsible for the crisis and the events that led to it is the person who holds executive political office. It is the minister who is required in terms of the constitution to account to parliament, and the minister alone.” The court also demanded that Dlamini show reasons why she should not be held personally responsib...
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