Former Social Development Minister, Bathabile Dlamini, has been cleared by the Public Protector of misleading Parliament regarding the ability of the South African Social Security Agency to pay grants.
The allegations relate to Dlamini telling Parliament that SASSA would be ready to take over grant payments system Cash Paymaster Service (CPS) from April 2017.
But, in a statement on Wednesday, advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane, said that these allegations "could not be substantiated".
The complaint against Dlamini was laid by Democratic Alliance member of Parliament Bridget Masango following claims that Dlamini knew from July 2015 of the inadequacies in SASSA to pay grant recipients on its own.
Masango complained that Dlamini delivered a budget speech in Parliament in which she stated that, "as reaffirmed by the ministerial advisory committee, SASSA is taking over the management and control of the payment process that is currently performed by a third party, from April 2017".
- African News Agency (ANA)