Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini asked Speaker of Parliament, Baleka Mbete, to rein in "onerous" requests by a committee overseeing the South African Social Security Agency’s (Sassa) efforts to end a contract with Net1 UEPS Technologies to distribute social grants. In a letter to Mbete on September 4, Dlamini said that efforts to find a new payment system were at a "sensitive" stage and that Sassa needs to finish its work "without compromise or perceived undue influence". She complained that the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) and the portfolio committee overlapped and constantly requested appearances by Sassa officials. "I write to express my concern and seek your intervention in the manner in which Scopa is increasingly over-stepping the boundaries of its mandate with regard to [Sassa’s work]," Dlamini wrote. "We are concerned about the onerous reporting requirements placed on Sassa officials who are called to appear almost every week." The agency, which...
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