Zuma meets ministers over Sassa crisis
President Jacob Zuma thinks that the social grant crisis is solvable – this after he met with the finance and social development ministry on Saturday.
The presidency said that Zuma met with Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini to discuss the matter. Zuma received a progress report on the debacle.
"Today's meeting follows other briefings that the president has received on the matter. The president is of the view that the matters are solvable."
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The presidency said Zuma directed Gordhan and Dlamini to mandate their technical teams to work on the outstanding issues surrounding the grants.
The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) this week in parliament indicated it had no clear plan in place to ensure the continued payment of social grants to more than 17 million beneficiaries.
By Friday, Department of Social Development director general Zane Dangor had resigned.
Dlamini and Sassa accepted responsibility for failing to put systems in place. This was revealed in Sassa's follow up report to the Constitutional Court, which was filed on Thursday and received by the court on Friday.
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Sassa, Social Development and Cash Paymaster Services came to an agreement over a payment plan on Friday.
"The minister and Sassa accept responsibility for Sassa's inability to deliver the system deliverables set out in the progress report," the court papers read.