Sassa fails to get right the bare necessities
Social grants agency inspires no confidence that its planning in the future will be any better than in the past
There are probably few things more fearsome than an enraged bear. But that was what the Constitutional Court appeared to be last week in proceedings when the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) sought a further extension of the unlawful contract given to Cash Paymaster Services for the payment of social grants. The court growled that it was "being laughed at" and "blackmailed". Sassa’s counsel had no easy time as he admitted there would be chaos if the court did not grant the extension and conceded there was no contingency plan in place should it not be allowed. Yet two days later, at a media briefing held jointly between Sassa and the South African Post Office, the agency’s acting CEO, Pearl Bengu, assured the public that there was in fact such a contingency plan. She did so fairly safe in the assumption that whatever contradictions she offered to Sassa’s representations in court, she might safely escape the court’s scrutiny. But the court roared its insistence that Sassa ...
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