According to the Social Development Department, the Minister has directed Sassa to comply with the directives and instructed the agency’s Acting CEO, Pearl Bengu to avail all resources that may be needed by other government departments or state agencies to carry out these orders.
The Constitutional Court’s order, issued this week, said the information must "specify matters such as definite roles and responsibilities, precise timelines, dependencies, desired outcomes and risk-mitigation measures". Following delivery of the plan, monthly progress reports must be given to the Court on implementation of the plan.
In addition to the December 8 deadline, the Constitutional Court directed Sassa to:
Sassa has also been told to raise the alarm if needs arises to alert the court of its contingency plan if a seamless transition on the 1 April 2018 deadline is not feasible.
The social security agency has been locked in talks with the South African Post Office on how the two parastatals can work together to deliver grants to South Africans.
In March this year, the Constitutional Court extended Sassa’s contract with Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) for a year, in order to fulfil the constitutional obligation of paying social grants to beneficiaries.
CPS is responsible for the distribution of social grants to more than 17 million beneficiaries. Its contract, which was declared invalid by the Constitutional Court in 2014, would have come to an end on 31 March 2017. The court, however, suspended the invalidity so grants could continue to be paid while Sassa made another plan for 1 April 2018.
SAnews.gov.za is a South African government news service, published by the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS). SAnews.gov.za (formerly BuaNews) was established to provide quick and easy access to articles and feature stories aimed at keeping the public informed about the implementation of government mandates.
Go to: http://www.sanews.gov.za