State must take over social grants payments - and be accountable for it‚ says ANC's Zweli Mkhize

Government needs to come up with a solution to take over the social grants payment process.

That's the view of African National Congress (ANC) Treasurer General Zweli Mkhize‚ who was invited to the Gordon Institute for Business Science (Gibs) on Wednesday evening to join business leaders in an address entitled “Business-Government partnership in the decade ahead: A View from Luthuli House”.

• CPS dodges ConCourt question on how much it will make from new contract with SassaCash Paymaster Services (CPS) evaded a question posed in the Constitutional Court on how much it will charge for distributing social grants if it concludes a new contract with SA Social Security Agency (Sassa).

"What we believe is important is that the core - particularly the technology involved in the (disbursement) of the social grants - is that the State needs to approach the company and take over so that it becomes something that the State can take [accountability] for‚" said Mkhize.

• 'Mind your language‚' Chief Justice tells grants case lawyersChief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng issued a warning to lawyers in the grant payment case on Wednesday to mind the language they use when addressing the court.

"There's been a lot of debate about the cost of running this service and I think the debate is justifiable and it's important that the government must look at what is the core of this system and what can be let out for competitive bidding‚" he said.

• CPS demands a new contract with Sassa to carry out its 'constitutional" obligationCash Paymaster Services (CPS) concedes it has a “constitutional” obligation to distribute social grants after March 31 if there is no other entity able to provide the service‚ but it demands that a new contract be concluded between itself and the SA Social Security Service (Sassa).

Earlier on Wednesday‚ Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng had strong words for the Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini‚ suggesting "absolute incompetence" and saying she did not do her job by not finding out that the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) could not pay grants sooner.

At risk is the payment of about 17 million grants that need to get paid on 01 April.