PARLIAMENT, – A dedicated team has been put in place to fast-track a partnership agreement between the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) and the South African Post Office (Sapo) regarding the payment of social grants, Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe told MPs on Wednesday.
Briefing a joint meeting of Parliament standing committee on public accounts and its social development portfolio committee, Radebe informed MPs he has taken over from President Jacob Zuma as chairman of an inter-ministerial committee (IMC) on comprehensive social security.
The IMC had met to break a deadlock between Sassa and Sapo over the latter taking over the payment of grants from a private company, Cash Paymaster Services (CPS).
“The IMC is of the view that government will move with the necessary speed to resolve all outstanding issues related to this matter,” Radebe told MPs.
“The IMC has thus taken a decision to fast-track the introduction of an integrated payment system which will be provided by the government through a partnership between Sassa and Sapo.”
Radebe said a partnership between Sassa, Sapo, Home Affairs and the State Security Agency will be forged. In addition, a dedicated team has been tasked with coming up with a strengthened project plan by next week Friday.
“The project plan will outline the detailed plan for execution, resource requirements, critical milestones and a communication strategy,” he said.
“The mandate of the dedicated team will be to ensure the finalisation of the cooperation agreements between Sassa and Sapo, the governance and contracting framework, risk assessment and mitigation, monitoring and evaluation.
Radebe said they were committed to implementing an order by the Constitutional Court which found the Sassa contract with CPS unlawful. A new system will be in place by the end of March next year when the contract with CPS expires.
“The IMC also reassures all South Africans and in particular the social grant beneficiaries that no card will expire on December 31, 2017.”
Last week, MPs gave National Treasury the directive of reviewing Sapo’s capability to take over grant payment.
Radebe said National Treasury confirmed a hybrid model, which could see commercial banks involved in paying grants.
– African News Agency (ANA),
