SOCIAL GRANTS FIASCO
Bathabile Dlamini will have to pay up if court rules against her
Dlamini faces a moment of truth as the courts decide whether she should be held personally responsible for the payment system crisis
Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini will hear on Thursday whether she should be held personally responsible for the payment system crisis at the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa). If the Constitutional Court finds against her, Dlamini will have to pay the costs of the matter, brought by advocacy group Black Sash, from her own pocket. Sassa CE Thokozani Magwaza and former social development director-general Zane Dangor have accused Dlamini of lying to the court when she said she did not know what had caused the grants payments fiasco. If the court finds Dlamini has lied in her affidavit, she could be prosecuted. The Constitutional Court ordered in March that Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) continue to pay grants for 12 months, after it was found that Sassa was unable to take over distribution despite saying it could. In her affidavit, Dlamini blamed the Sassa fiasco on the agency’s officials, specifically Magwaza. The court had questioned how Dlamini, as minister, ...
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