Social grant beneficiaries receiving their grants through the banks and merchants are set to receive their monies from 1pm today.
This was confirmed by SA Social Security Agency (Sass) chief executive Thokozani Magwaza yesterday.
The payments would be the first since the Constitutional Court earlier this month extended the contract between Sassa and distributor, Cash Paymaster Services (CPS).
The same court had in 2014 ruled that the contract had irregularly been awarded to CPS in 2012.
The declaration of invalidity was suspended at the time to allow the payment of grants to continue uninterrupted.
On March 17, the court ruled the illegal contract – which was set to expire today – be extended for 12 months.
“Recipients getting grants through banks and merchants can go check their accounts from 1pm today.
“Pay points will only get paid on the dates stipulated on the receipts they received when they were paid last month,” he said.
Payments from pay points start on Monday as they were closed over weekends.
Magwaza again gave assurances that grants would be paid.
“All is in order in terms of security. Police will be deployed in case of congestions and stampedes,” he said.
Magwaza said this was because some recipients had two options of receiving their grant and may decide to go to the banks on April 1.
Magwaza, together with his management team, said he would be monitoring the payments across the country.
“I will be in the Western Cape from April 1 and will move to other centres across the country until April 17 when the payment cycle (for the month) comes to an end.”
Today is D-Day for Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini to tell the Constitutional Court why she should not pay the legal costs of the litigation from her own pocket.
Dlamini and her officials were slated by the court for failing to exercise their duty in securing the delivery of grants.
The department was expected to have taken over the grant payments or appointed another company to do so, but it did not keep this undertaking it had made to the court.
Attempts by the department to extend the contract were refused by National Treasury, which said that to do so would be in contempt of the Constitutional Court.
In its ruling, the court ordered Treasury to grant a deviation to allow the contract to be extended and that the department appraise the court every three months on progress made to take over the payment of grants.