No date yet for inquiry into whether Dlamini should personally pay for social grants saga

A date is yet to be set for the start of the inquiry on whether Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini should be held personally liable for the legal costs incurred in the social grants debacle.

The Constitutional Court in June found that it could not make an "adverse" order against the minister on the basis of allegations that had not been tested. The court‚ instead ruled that an inquiry be set up to determine whether she should pay.

In August‚ the court appointed retired Judge Bernard Ngoepe as the referee for the inquiry.

On Thursday‚ Ngoepe’s spokesperson‚ Pearl Seopela‚ said: “At this stage the Judge is waiting to hear from the Constitutional Court regarding logistics. Other than that‚ he cannot at this stage comment on the matter.”

The Black Sash Trust‚ which is a party in the matter‚ said it was in the process of finalising a list of witnesses it will be calling when the inquiry resumes.

Among issues Ngoepe will be investigating in the inquiry‚ is whether Dlamini appointed “work streams” who reported directly to her‚ as set out in a letter former Sassa chief executive Thokozani Magwaza submitted to court with his affidavit. Ngoeope‚ according to the judgment‚ will also determine how the inquiry will be conducted.

All witnesses are to give oral evidence and the inquiry will be open to the public. In her affidavit‚ Dlamini said she should not be made to pay and detailed how she had discharged her duties as minister. She blamed Sassa officials for the grants crisis‚ but Magwazi and former director general Zane Dangor disputed her version of events.

The Black Sash Trust approached the court in March after the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) acknowledged it would not be able to pay millions of grants from April 1‚ despite promising the court in November 2015 it would do so.

The organisation wanted the court to resume its supervisory jurisdiction over the payment of social grants.

The court had in 2014 declared that the 2012 contract between Sassa and Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) for the payment of grants was invalid.

However‚ the court extended the invalid contract to give Sassa time to open a new tender process for social grant payments.

- TimesLIVE