JOHANNESBURG, March 5 (ANA) - Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) will continue, for now, to pay out social grants even after its contract expires at the end of the month, Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini said on Sunday.
But the social development department was quick to say "no deal" had yet been signed with CPS. Discussions with the service provider were ongoing.
Dlamini told a press conference in Pretoria the plan was to have a transition period at the end of which the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) would take over the responsibility of paying out social grants. She said the South African Post Office would also be involved.
Allaying fears of a possible crisis when the CPS contract came to an end on March 31, Dlamini assured all grant recipients that their social grants would be paid.
Responding to questions at the press briefing, Dlamini declined to comment on her director general Zane Dangor's resignation on Friday. She did, however, say Dangor, who was appointed as director general in November, was respected in the area of social services and human rights.
On Saturday, President Jacob Zuma met Dlamini and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan after which he announced that steps were being taken to ensure that the 17 million social grant beneficiaries received their grants on April 1.
Zuma said the much publicised “matters are solvable”. He said he had directed the two ministers to mandate their technical teams to work on the outstanding issues in order to ensure that social grant beneficiaries received their grants on April 1.
- African News Agency (ANA)