Veteran human rights organisation the Black Sash Trust has filed an application requesting the intervention of the Pretoria High Court in the case over deductions made to social grant beneficiaries' accounts.
Net 1 UEPS Technologies (Net 1) and its subsidiaries have been at loggerheads with the Department of Social Development (DSD) and the South African Social Services Agency (SASSA) over amended regulations that prohibit deductions from bank accounts held by grant beneficiaries.
In the legal documents filed on Wednesday, the Black Sash says "its application is in the interest of all grant beneficiaries, most of whom are unable to litigate themselves".
Black Sash national director Lynette Maart told ITWeb that the organisation filed its application with the High Court to protect grant beneficiaries against exploitation of their grants.
We have received complaints from many grant beneficiaries about not receiving their grant in full, often the only source of income, says Maart.
"The Black Sash supports the position taken by SASSA and DSD... If the court interprets the new regulations the way Net 1 and other applicants do, then the Black Sash seeks relief from the court that SASSA and DSD are directed to make new regulations that will protect grant beneficiaries from exploitation. We believe the state has a duty and obligation to protect grant beneficiary."
She adds: "The Black Sash seeks to protect the human dignity of all grant beneficiaries by ensuring they cannot be targeted for products and services against their social grants, diminishing the necessity of their need for such grants, but exploitative harmful practices that do not seem sufficiently regulated to protect them."
Gloves are off
In May, the DSD introduced amendments to a section of the Social Assistance Act, whereby nobody would be allowed to deduct money from a SASSA beneficiary's account.
The department's decision was prompted by complaints it received from beneficiaries who said loan, airtime, electricity and funeral policy payments were being recouped before their social grants were paid out.
Soon after the DSD's decision, Net 1 filed for a declaratory order with the North Gauteng High Court requesting certainty on "the interpretation of the Social Assistance Act of 2004 and recent regulations promulgated in terms thereof".
Net 1 noted: "The regulations limit direct deductions from social grants paid to beneficiaries. The company interprets the meaning of the word 'deductions' to be specific to the practice of collecting life insurance premiums from grants, before the grants are paid to social welfare beneficiaries' bank accounts, and is of the opinion that the legislature did not intend to curtail the right of beneficiaries to transact freely once the money is deposited into their bank accounts."
SASSA followed suit and filed criminal charges against Cash Paymaster Services, a Net 1 subsidiary responsible for distributing grants, and Grindrod Bank, for failing to comply with the newly amended regulations in the Social Assistance Act.
SASSA contends the deductions made on social grant beneficiaries' money are illegal and that Net 1 has abused its position as the contractor handling social grant payments to more than 16 million South Africans.
Meanwhile, it was recently reported Net 1 said in court papers that the decision to amend regulations in the Social Assistance Act is a breach of the social grant beneficiaries' constitution.
Net 1 said the amended regulations "unjustifiably infringe beneficiaries' right to contractual freedom and self-autonomy", according to reports.
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