The Portfolio Committee on Social Development yesterday rejected the extension of the Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) contract.
The South African Social Security Agency’s (Sassa) CEO, Ms Pearl Bhengu in briefing the Committee on the implementation of the Constitutional Court order, explained to the Committee why Sassa wanted to extend the contract. She said the contract was going to be extended in order to provide a back-up should there be any problems with the new payment system.
While the Committee agreed that there is a lot of work to be done to ensure the smoothtransition of service providers and to ensure the effective payment of social grants, timelines for the full transition will have to be adhered to.
Meanwhile, the Committee raised its dissatisfaction about the communications by Ms Lumka Oliphant, the spokesperson in the Department of Social Development. The Chairperson of the Committee, Ms Rosemary Capa, said that communications relating to matters which are before the Committee should only be done by the Inter-Ministerial Committee and the Portfolio Committee itself.
The Committee said that conflicting messages in the media regarding the relationship between Sassa and the new service provider, the South African Post Office (SAPO) are creating panic amongst social grant beneficiaries. Ms Capa said the two entities are working hand in hand to ensure that beneficiaries are not without their grants.
Sassa appeared before the Committee yesterday to brief the Committee on progress made so far in the implementation of the Constitutional Court order.