Dlamini is to blame: remove her and solve problem

Amid a war of words between the SA Post Office and Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini it is ultimately the 17-million social grants recipients who will - yet again - suffer the uncertainty of what lies ahead.

On Monday Dlamini stated categorically that the Post Office could not take over grants payments after months of indications that this was precisely what would happen. A day later Post Office CEO Mark Barnes essentially told parliament the minister was talking rubbish and the Post Office could manage payments from next April.

All of this does little to resolve yet another round of uncertainty in this critical state function upon which millions depend for their monthly survival.

Tuesday's parliamentary hearings were intended to get answers but it was a case of another day, another delay. Dlamini and Barnes were given until 6pm on Wednesday to deal with their issues.

We await the outcome with bated breath as it is clear we are rapidly heading towards a crisis such as that which precipitated arguments before the Constitutional Court earlier this year.

MPs on Tuesday demanded answers so they could understand why this issue remains so intractable despite the months that have passed since the Constitutional Court ruled on it.

The buck stops, as it did then and as it does now, with Dlamini.

Her failures, arrogance and incompetence are now in the realm of legend. She is the common denominator in the problem and solving this problem is as easy as removing her from the equation, as we have argued in the past.

Yet this is the solution which remains inexplicably - or perhaps now understandably in the context of our gangster state - outside of the grasp of our leaders.