#SASSAConCourt: 'We met ConCourt filing deadline'

Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini File picture: Thobile Mathonsi/Independent Media

Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini File picture: Thobile Mathonsi/Independent Media

Published Mar 15, 2017

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Johannesburg – The Social Development Department was on Wednesday adamant that it did not miss Tuesday's Constitutional Court 3pm deadline to tell the court why Minister Bathabile Dlamini filed papers very late the previous day.

Dlamini's lawyers missed the Tuesday deadline to file by 11 minutes. The department was however adamant that its lawyers made the 3pm deadline.

"The Department of Social Development wishes to place it on record that [the South Africa Social Security Agency] Sassa did not miss the deadline set by the Constitutional Court on Tuesday, for the filing of the Confirmatory Affidavits as widely alleged in the media," the department said in a statement.

"The department wishes to state that it is not true as reported on News24 and eNCA that the Sassa missed it's deadline for the 3pm filing of the affidavits by the Minister of Social Development and the then acting Sassa CEO, Dr Wiseman Magasela.

Contrary to media reports, the affidavits were filed timeously and their copies were stamped by the clerk of the court and handed to the Sassa legal team."

Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng ordered Dlamini to explain to the court on Tuesday why she missed Monday's 4pm deadline to file affidavits for the application brought before court by non-governmental organisation, the Black Sash.

The department's lawyers had filed at 10:30pm on Monday night.

Dlamini, in her reply on Tuesday, said she had done everything she could to comply with the highest court in the land.

The application by Black Sash and Freedom Under Law (FUL) who are seeking the reinstatement of the Constitutional Court's oversight role regarding the payment of social grants to millions of South African beneficiaries, was being heard in court in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

African News Agency

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