CAPE TOWN, October 30 (ANA) – Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini on Monday ruled out signing a deal with the South African Post Office that would see it take over all aspects of welfare grant payment next year, and announced that the government would re-open the procurement process.
In a statement, Dlamini said SAPO fell short on three of four key functions needed to pay out grants to some 12 million recipients every month.
It could not print the required 4.2 million beneficiary cards per annum that were required, she said. Neither could it provide a full-scale banking service that includes a disbursement account linked to a card with biometric verification data and assure that cards were compliant with all existing ATM machines.
This would force grant recipients to travel to receive their payouts and put their safety at risk, she suggested.
The South African Social Development Agency (Sassa) would therefore initiate a new procurement process for service providers to handle those functions SAPO cannot, she said,
The procurement process will conclude on February 28, 2018.
This is a month before the deadline imposed by the Constitutional Court for a new contract to replace the current one with Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) expires.
Dlamini’s critics have in recent months accused the minister of seeking to manufacture another welfare payout crisis, and extend the deal with CPS.
– African News Agency (ANA)
