A decision on the appointment of a new service provider to administer payments to over 10 million social grants recipients will be announced by the end of this week.
So said social development minister Bathabile Dlamini during an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) briefing last week. Dlamini was accompanied by home affairs and telecoms and postal services ministers, Hlengiwe Mkhize and Siyabonga Cwele, respectively.
The impending decision not only paves the way for the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) to usher in a new payments distributor when the contract of the current service provider - Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) - comes to an end, but it also lifts the lid on the role of the SA Post Office (SAPO) in the future of social grants payments.
SAPO, through Postbank, has declared its readiness to be the service provider for the payment of grants beyond March 2018.
Dlamini's pronouncements follows the completion of a due diligence report on SAPO by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Following the recommendation of the IMC, the CSIR was appointed to conduct the technical due diligence on SAPO.
According to the minister, due diligence is nothing new: "[It is] a common business prerequisite to inform decision-making, particularly on an important matter such as the one we are discussing today. It looks at a number of issues, including risks and opportunities, financial implications, legal implications, regulatory impacts and wider implications.
"The bid evaluation committee will consider the report on 20 September 2017; we will announce the final decision before the end of next week [this week]," she adds.
CPS, a division of Net1 UEPS Technologies, has continued paying social grants in SA, after it was ordered by the Constitutional Court to do so until the end of March 2018.
The ConCourt also ordered SASSA to use this time to usher in a new payment provider, with SAPO hotly tipped as the frontrunner to take over. In this regard, the court ordered the minister of social development and SASSA to submit quarterly reports highlighting the steps to ensure the appointment of a new payment service provider when the current 12-month contract with CPS lapses.
Meanwhile, the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), which has been critical of the social security agency, also conducted an oversight visit at the SASSA head office to get first-hand insight on the progress regarding the appointment of a new payment service provider.
During the visit, Scopa chairperson Themba Godi encouraged SASSA executives and the acting CEO Pearl Bhengu to remain true to the commitment to pay social grants. "We have to get to a point where we are committed to our commitments," he said.
Bengu assured Scopa they are in talks with the banks for those beneficiaries who receive their grants direct to their banking accounts, and that SASSA is working hard to meet all deadlines.
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