Dlamini rejects Treasury grants proposal

Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini has rejected Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s proposal for banks and the Post Office to distribute social grants to 17m beneficiaries, describing it as impracticable and ‘not thought through carefully’. Dlamini said beneficiaries would be at risk of not receiving their grants when the Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) contract ends on 31 March. A News24 report points out the Minister has had since 2014 to deal with the crisis and now has only 43 days in which to ensure the beneficiaries get their grants. In 2014 the Constitutional Court declared the contract with CPS invalid but suspended the invalidity order until 31 March so that Dlamini had adequate time to find a new distributor to take over the system. ‘Any attempt to implement it (the Treasury plan) may result in the state’s failure to pay social grants on 1 April, which would be disastrous. It is a risk my Ministry is not prepared to take,’ Dlamini said.