The crisis around social grants has now escalated to the highest level, as chief justice of the Constitutional Court (ConCourt), Mogoeng Mogoeng, has demanded answers on the agreement reached with the current payments master, among other issues.
Mogoeng's directive comes as a technical team is today expected to report back to social development minister Bathabile Dlamini on the terms of the new contract agreed upon to pay 17 million beneficiaries.
Over the past few weeks, Dlamini's department and the SA Social Security Agency (SASSA) have had to account before Parliament's social development portfolio committee and the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on the social grant payments saga, and now have to do the same for the ConCourt.
Mogoeng has on behalf of the court given the minister and SASSA until 4pm on Monday, 13 March, to submit responses to his directives with accompanying affidavits.
In relation to an agreement between SASSA and Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) for the payment of social grants from 1 April, Mogoeng wants to determine if a new deal has been entered into and the full details if such an agreement has been reached.
The ConCourt document from Mogoeng says: "Is it SASSA's contention that this agreement is lawful and in compliance with the procurement requirements of the Constitution and applicable legislation? Full details are required of the steps taken in compliance with applicable procurement legislation.
"Full details are required of the steps taken, or envisaged, to run a competitive bidding process again to have a new contractor or contractors appointed for the payments of grants, and the exact timeframe within which this will occur."
The current CPS contract, which expires at the end of March, was declared invalid by the ConCourt in 2014, after it emerged that irregular tendering processes were followed.
In the list of instructions issued to Dlamini and the social security agency, Mogoeng also seeks to know:
* The name of the entity or person that determined SASSA would not be able to pay social grants by the end of March.
* The date when the responsible person first became aware SASSA would not be able to pay grants itself.
* The reason the ConCourt was not immediately informed the agency would not be able to make social grants payments and the person who made the decision that it was not necessary to do so.
In the hot seat
This week, it was Dlamini's turn to account to Scopa. Chairperson Themba Godi took to his Twitter profile to say the committee has invited finance minister Pravin Gordhan and National Treasury to brief members next week Tuesday and give further clarity on the SASSA debacle.
National Treasury has remained mum on the signing of the "new two-year deal" between SASSA and CPS. Last week, it issued a statement noting it is not part of negotiations with CPS.
It was previously reported that Gordhan is against the reappointment of CPS.
Treasury said in a statement: "Following several media enquiries about National Treasury's participation in the negotiations with CPS for the contract for payment of grants, National Treasury wishes to clarify that it is not part of this process."
Meanwhile, as calls for Dlamini to be removed as minister of social development increase, the Democratic Alliance caucus in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament will hold a debate on the SASSA crisis this afternoon.
According to a statement, the opposition party's debate aims to question why the SASSA crisis happened, whether 17 million South African citizens will receive their social grants on 1 April, what the potential consequences for beneficiaries could be if social grants are not paid, what the legal implications are, and why it is that CPS has to be used as the sole distributing agency of social grants.
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