A last-minute deal between the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) and Cash Paymaster Services may be stitched together to ensure that 17-million social grant recipients will be paid from April 1. An emergency intervention had to be devised after Sassa told parliament earlier this month it would not be ready to take over disbursement of social grants when the Cash Paymaster contract expires at the end of March, although Sassa has had three years to prepare. This revelation meant that besides the existing service provider there was no other system in place to pay social grant recipients. The contract with Cash Paymaster Services, which pays out almost R12-billion a month to pensioners, disabled people and children, was declared invalid by the Constitutional Court after Sassa tender irregularities. But on Friday, Net 1 UEPS Technologies, the parent company of Cash Paymaster Services, confirmed it had agreed to meet Sassa urgently.
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