ON THE MONEY
Doubts about Sassa’s sincerity in taking over paying the 17-million social grants
A clean and competent tender process is needed to choose a service provider for social grants, writes Stuart Theobald
Every month, 17-million social grants are paid out across the country, directly into bank accounts or at giant jamborees where cash is distributed. The problem is that this mammoth exercise happens through a tender that the Constitutional Court has declared invalid. The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) is meant to be taking over the distribution job from April 1 next year. But last week it revealed to the parliamentary committee on social development that it was hopelessly ill-prepared to do so. Let that sink in for a moment. About 17-million people, the most vulnerable in South African society, face considerable risk to the smooth payment of their grants every month. Apart from the obvious social distress a disruption may cause, there is also the effect it might have on our already precarious social stability. Unless, of course, Sassa already knows that there won’t be any disruption or problems with distribution. It might know that if it already has a plan to abandon th...
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