Post Office willing and able to pay grants, Mark Barnes tells MPs, to Dlamini's surprise
'If you go back to school 90% is a pass, not a fail'
South African Post Office CEO Mark Barnes has insisted Sapo is ready and able to help the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) with grant payments from April next year. Barnes’s remarks to a joint committee meeting of Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) and the portfolio committee on social development contradicted remarks Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini made in East London on Monday regarding the Sapo’s readiness. Tuesday’s joint meeting followed at least two unsuccessful attempts to get Dlamini to update Parliament on Sassa’s progress in complying with a Constitutional Court order ruling out Cash Paymaster Services from facilitating the grant payments in future. Dlamini previously said there were a number of criteria Sapo did not meet to qualify to facilitate the payment of the 17-million grants. However, on the issue of Sapo’s lack of a full banking licence, Barnes said: “We can settle transactions. Standard Bank is our clearing bla...
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