This was an order by obviously irritated Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) chairman Themba Godi.
“Today by 6pm we should have a way forward on the distributors
of grants payments, finish & klaar. This delaying is casting a bad light on us as the committee and we can’t allow that,” he said.
“We can’t keep kicking the can down the road until March next year. We must comply with the directives of the Constitutional Court [to resolve the matter by April 2018]. We can’t encourage sitting here and talking‚ engaging in meaningless talk.”
The bone of contention is that the minister of Social Services Bathable Dlamini, is still hell bent on extending the contract of Cash Paymaster Services, that expired this year but was extended until next year in Apri
l, by the Constitutional Court.
As a result Dlamini has been punted as ‘corrupt’ and ‘untrustworthy’ by MPs, some alluding she might have a hand in the deal hence the delay to appoint the distribution organization.
Post Office CEO Mark Barnes on Tuesday insisted that they were more than ready to take over the payment of social grants from CPS in April next year‚ while Dlamini argued the contrary.
Frustrated MPs have now called for President JG Zuma’s intervention.
The President is the chairman of an inter-ministerial committee that he set up following the Constitutional Court judgment that nullified SASSA’s contract with Cash Paymaster Service.
