Johannesburg - President Jacob Zuma insists there is no need to sack Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini over the grants debacle, and has urged restraint from those calling for her head.
Zuma said South Africans should wait until April 1 before they commented on the saga involving the department, the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) and Cash Paymaster Services.
“People are making judgment before the day arrives It’s just exciting the country How could you do that (call for Dlamini to be fired) before the date comes?”
The president was speaking at the Union Buildings in Pretoria yesterday after spending seven hours behind closed doors discussing service delivery, migration and other issues with the country’s premiers and ministers.
Zuma said he had instructed Dlamini and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to give him a "solution report" over the grant payment crisis.
“Let us cool down as a country. Old people will be paid their money.”
Asked what would happen if beneficiaries did not receive their money, Zuma said he would ensure that they got their money.
A cheerful Zuma described the meeting with provincial leaders as very good, saying a consensus was reached between parties that some municipalities didn’t have adequate revenue and that the government needed to build capacity to ensure their work runs smoothly. “No single level must have challenges on its own, without being assisted," he said.
Gauteng Premier David Makhura, KwaZulu-Natal’s Willies Mchunu and Free State’s Ace Magashule were present, along with their counterparts from the North West, Northern Cape and Eastern Cape. Mpumalanga and the Western Cape sent representatives, while Limpopo had confirmed it would attend but was not present.