'Crisis? What crisis?' as minister dodges parliament over social grant fiasco
'It's unfortunate that the minister is not here. At this juncture, it's more than just administrative, it's political'
With a sick, or possibly suspended CEO, no back-up plan and exactly one month in which to finalise the payment of nearly 18 million social grants, the SA Social Security Agency presented a shambolic picture to parliament yesterday, with Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini dodging any backlash by simply not attending. And Standing Committee on Public Accounts chairman Themba Godi didn't hold back, lambasting the organisation for its conduct. Yesterday Sassa appeared before parliament's watchdog, Scopa, to account for more than R1-billion in irregular expenditure and to answer questions on what committee chairman Godi called "the elephant in the room" - the payment of social grants on April 1. But, with Dlamini absent, and acting CEO Thamo Mzobe, holding the position for less than an hour, the committee quickly realised that it would not be getting many answers to their questions. "It's unfortunate that the minister is not here. At this juncture, it's more than just admin...
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