Cape Town - South African President Jacob Zuma refused to
take action against his welfare minister, saying there is no crisis in the
nation’s social-grants system even as the cabinet apologised for the “anxiety”
caused by uncertainty around whether 17 million people will be paid next month.
South Africa is scrambling to ensure that the
payment of more than R150 billion of grants a year will be made from April 1
when a contract with Net1 UEPS Technologies ends and the Constitutional
Court is considering arguments from human-rights groups to supervise any new
agreement. While the court ruled in 2014 that the deal with Net1 was invalid,
the department of social development says it’s the only company with the
capability to pay. The Constitutional Court will make its ruling at 10 a.m. in
Johannesburg on Friday.
“How do you evaluate a person on something that has not
happened?” Zuma asked lawmakers in Cape Town on Thursday in response to
opposition party demands that Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini be
fired. “April 1 has not happened and the minister and her colleagues are
working on ensuring people get paid.”
Read also: ConCourt demands clarity on welfare deal
Any interruption to the signature program of the
African National Congress could spark protests in poor communities where many
households have no other income. The debacle is the latest in a series of
missteps by Zuma’s administration that have curbed growth, dented investor
confidence and stoked conflict between government officials and departments.
Regrets anxiety
The South African Social Security Agency on Wednesday
asked the Constitutional Court to either extend Net1’s contract or award it a
new one. Black Sash Trust, Freedom Under Law and Corruption Watch argued that
the deal must be supervised by the court until a new operator can be found, and
that the company shouldn’t be allowed to profit from the contract. The Post
Office said it could take over the payments.
During proceedings, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng and
other Constitutional Court judges criticised the minister and Sassa for letting
the matter reach a crisis.
Net1 proposed in court papers on Thursday a fixed monthly
fee of R194 million to continue to run the system for two years. It’s also
prepared to accept an order to keep the same terms as its previous deal for a
shorter period, provided the Auditor General consider an increase in the fee to
compensate for inflation. The fee proposed took into account estimated
inflation, according to the submission to the Constitutional Court.
Offensive comments
In a later statement, Net1’s board pledged to work with
Sassa to bring in a new payment system and apologized for comments made by its
officials that were “perceived as offensive.”
A group of ministers, including Dlamini and Finance
Minister Pravin Gordhan, are working to ensure the payments will be made,
Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe told reporters in Pretoria after a
cabinet meeting. It would also investigate the actions of the welfare agency
and seek advice on further legal action, he said.
Cabinet “regrets the anxiety caused by uncertainty over
the social grant payments,” Radebe said.