ANN CROTTY: Millions depend on this lifeline
SA will face a huge crisis if grants aren’t paid in April
You know things are bad when Net1-UEPS chief Serge Belamant seems to be the only person taking social grant distributions seriously. Of all the people the Financial Mail spoke to this week, Belamant was the only one who had a fairly good idea of what was going to happen after March 2017. That’s when Net1 subsidiary CPS’s contract to distribute 11m grants ends. If the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) hasn’t had discussions with him by January then April will be a disaster, is essentially what Belamant says. Everybody else seems to be guessing or just keeping their fingers crossed. As for the chances of minister Bathabile Dlamini pulling off a last-minute miracle, the Net1 chief doesn’t think much of that. "Perhaps they have something magical up their sleeve."
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