Johannesburg – The National Treasury has distanced itself
from talks between the Department of Social Development and Cash Paymaster Systems.
This comes as the social development’s welfare unit, the
South African Social Security Agency, announced its was in talks with Net1
company Cash Paymaster Services to extend a contract.
CPS’s contract was found to be unlawful some years ago by
the Constitutional Court and SASSA was ordered to find another solution.
However, it appears the agency – responsible for paying
grants to more than 17 million South Africans – was unable to find an
alternative.
The current deal expires at the end of this month.
It is now seeking to either extend the deal with CPS,
which will see CPS continuing to handle more than R140 billion in payments each
month – or pay 99 percent or recipients via bank accounts, and the rest in
cash.
SASSA had wanted to negotiate a new deal with CPS, and
not extend its initial one, it has said.
The initial deal was found to be legally flawed and the
Constitutional Court noted several irregularities in the awarding of the
tender, understood to be worth at least R10 billion a year.
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The negotiations are apparently happening without the
sanction on SA’s purse holder, which on Friday said it wishes to “clarify that,
it is NOT part of this process.”
In a statement, National Treasury says the “Department of
Social Development had requested National Treasury’s participation”.
However, it notes, National Treasury advised that such
request cannot be favourably considered for the following reasons:
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The procurement regulatory framework delegates
this responsibility to the Accounting Officer of the respective department.
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SASSA and the Department of Social Services have
announced publicly that at some point they will approach National Treasury to
regularise process underway.
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In the light of the above the participation of
National Treasury at this stage will amount to a conflict of interest.
National Treasury adds it remains committed to assist
when required to find solutions within the confines of the constitution and the
procurement regulatory framework to ensure that the deserving beneficiaries of
the grants do not suffer.
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