The Black Sash notes that SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) chief executive Thokozani Magwaza has accepted an early exit package, after less than a year in this position.
His exit follows reports of death threats, a worrying trend of senior government officials being intimidated in the course of performing their work.
Former director-general of Social Development Zane Dangor suffered the same fate, with death threats as well as violence prior to and following his resignation earlier this year.
Of particular concern is whether Sassa will lawfully procure services timeously to ensure the proper functioning and integrity of the agency’s national payment system, in accordance with its first report to the Constitutional Court, with the view that Sassa takes over its full mandate.
South Africans and grant beneficiaries, in particular, should not have to experience yet another extension of the invalid Sassa Cash Paymaster Services contract, as was the case in March.