If Net 1’s welfare payments contract is not extended, it will be a ‘disaster’, CE says
Sassa is under pressure to replace Net 1 as the distributor of welfare payments to 17.2-million people, but it has yet to put the contract out to tender
The CEO of Net 1 UEPS Technologies said a failure to extend its contract to distribute South African welfare payments beyond the end of March would be a "national disaster", and offered to sell the business to the government. While the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) is under pressure to replace Net 1 as the distributor of R139.5bn in welfare payments annually to 17.2-million people, it has yet to put the contract out to tender. In 2013, the Constitutional Court ruled Net 1’s contract invalid because of the way it was awarded. It was allowed to continue because of legal disputes and the failure of Sassa to issue a new tender. Sassa may need to return to court if Net 1’s contract is to be continued. "There is no one else who can deliver the system as we do it today. I do not think this would be feasible for the foreseeable future. It would be a national disaster," Serge Belamant, the company’s CEO, said in an phone interview from London on Tuesday. "It will be difficult ...
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