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Non-governmental organisations have welcomed the news that former Social Development Minister, Bathabile Dlamini, has settled the cost order made against her personally by the Constitutional Court for her role in the social grants crisis almost three years ago.
The Black Sash Trust, the Centre for Applied Legal Science and Freedom Under Law secured a ruling in 2018 that compelled the Minister to personally pay a portion of the cost of litigating matters related to the grants crisis.
In a historic ruling, the Constitutional Court found the Minister’s conduct had been "reckless and grossly negligent."
The organisations said that the court ruling sent an important message that public officials must be held to account for their actions and was widely applauded given how the Minister had put millions of people’s lives and livelihoods at risk.
"Yet, until recently, Dlamini had made every effort to avoid paying the costs she owed of around R650,000 total, not only ignoring letters of demand but even going as far as to change attorneys in the process," they said in a joint statement on Thursday.
"We have been gratified to note that in the past two weeks the order has now been complied with and Ms Dlamini has paid our costs."
The CEO of Freedom Under Law, Nicole Fritz, said it is essential that government leaders who are entrusted with these important positions face a real reckoning when they so starkly fail to discharge their responsibilities.
Meanwhile, Lynnette Maart, national director of the Black Sash, said the struggle to advance the right to social security is far from over.
"We continue to demand that government keep its promises of working towards a universal basic income grant, and we condemn the manner in which the special COVID-19 relief of distress grants and caregiver grants have been brought to an end despite the ongoing state of disaster and unparalleled time of hardship," she said.
