Ducking questions around her handling of the Sassa payment crisis‚ which affects 17-million grant beneficiaries‚ Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini on Monday chose to climb into journalists who she believes represent a “monopoly capital agenda’’.
She was speaking at the four star Cape Sun Hotel in Cape Town‚ where a jovial crowd dressed in ANC colours welcomed her with song.
“Thank you for coming‚’’ she said.
“Since this started we’ve been talking to papers but the important people are the poor — the recipients of the state grants.’’
She said her department had invited advocacy groups‚ faith based organisation and traditional leaders who could appropriately convey the message that grants will be paid on April 1.
On Sunday Dlamini lost her cool with a journalist during a press briefing. She refused to answer a number of questions related to why the department and the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) wanted to continue dealing with Cash Paymaster Services‚ whose contract with SASSA was declared to be invalid by the Constitutional Court in 2015.
The contract will lapse on March 31. However‚ a new deal with CPS and the department is on the table.
The department said it plans to continue using CPS over the next two years to pay the grant recipients‚ although a deal has not yet been signed.
“Yesterday was very sad‚” Dlamini said referring to Sunday’s press briefing. “Journalists from black communities were taking notes for their communities. Others came with a different agenda. They represented their bosses.
We plead with you to take the message forward that on the first on the 1st of April you are going to receive your grants.”
Dlamini was criticised by Parliament’s public spending watchdog at the weekend‚ which stopped just short of calling for her resignation.
Dave Chambers reported that a statement by Standing Committee on Public Accounts chairman Themba Godi came just hours after the resignation of Dlamini’s director-general‚ Zane Dangor‚ who said he had quit due to “a breakdown in the relationship between myself and (Dlamini) on the management of the processes towards ensuring grants are paid“.
Godi said Dangor was “one of many officials in the department and the South African Social Security Agency who have been frustrated by (Dlamini’s) heavy-handed interference in Sassa’s administrative matters”.
Godi said in Scopa’s interactions with Dangor‚ “he had proven himself to be an honest and hardworking civil servant”.
He added: “Clearly‚ the CPS contract negotiations have been handled to the disadvantage of the state and grant recipients‚ especially around the issue of deductions which have been a major thorn for recipients.
“The minister must now take full responsibility for this. The department is clearly falling apart.
“As Scopa‚ we are looking forward to meeting with the minister on Tuesday so that all these matters can be fully ventilated.
“It is now becoming very difficult to explain the capability of the minister to effectively run the department and the discharge of her responsibilities. Scopa cannot be quiet or indifferent to these levels of mismanagement‚ which create unease and anxiety in the nation‚ and comes at a huge financial cost to the state.”
- Tiso Black Star Group Digital/TimesLIVE
Under fire minister Bathabile Dlamini lashes out in anger
She was speaking at the four star Cape Sun Hotel in Cape Town‚ where a jovial crowd dressed in ANC colours welcomed her with song.
“Thank you for coming‚’’ she said.
“Since this started we’ve been talking to papers but the important people are the poor — the recipients of the state grants.’’
She said her department had invited advocacy groups‚ faith based organisation and traditional leaders who could appropriately convey the message that grants will be paid on April 1.
On Sunday Dlamini lost her cool with a journalist during a press briefing. She refused to answer a number of questions related to why the department and the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) wanted to continue dealing with Cash Paymaster Services‚ whose contract with SASSA was declared to be invalid by the Constitutional Court in 2015.
The contract will lapse on March 31. However‚ a new deal with CPS and the department is on the table.
The department said it plans to continue using CPS over the next two years to pay the grant recipients‚ although a deal has not yet been signed.
“Yesterday was very sad‚” Dlamini said referring to Sunday’s press briefing. “Journalists from black communities were taking notes for their communities. Others came with a different agenda. They represented their bosses.
We plead with you to take the message forward that on the first on the 1st of April you are going to receive your grants.”
Dlamini was criticised by Parliament’s public spending watchdog at the weekend‚ which stopped just short of calling for her resignation.
Dave Chambers reported that a statement by Standing Committee on Public Accounts chairman Themba Godi came just hours after the resignation of Dlamini’s director-general‚ Zane Dangor‚ who said he had quit due to “a breakdown in the relationship between myself and (Dlamini) on the management of the processes towards ensuring grants are paid“.
Godi said Dangor was “one of many officials in the department and the South African Social Security Agency who have been frustrated by (Dlamini’s) heavy-handed interference in Sassa’s administrative matters”.
Godi said in Scopa’s interactions with Dangor‚ “he had proven himself to be an honest and hardworking civil servant”.
He added: “Clearly‚ the CPS contract negotiations have been handled to the disadvantage of the state and grant recipients‚ especially around the issue of deductions which have been a major thorn for recipients.
“The minister must now take full responsibility for this. The department is clearly falling apart.
“As Scopa‚ we are looking forward to meeting with the minister on Tuesday so that all these matters can be fully ventilated.
“It is now becoming very difficult to explain the capability of the minister to effectively run the department and the discharge of her responsibilities. Scopa cannot be quiet or indifferent to these levels of mismanagement‚ which create unease and anxiety in the nation‚ and comes at a huge financial cost to the state.”
- Tiso Black Star Group Digital/TimesLIVE
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