Dlamini back in hot seat at social grants inquiry

The inquiry into social development minister Bathabile Dlamini’s role in the social grants crisis continues on Wednesday.

The inquiry kicked off on Monday. Retired judge Bernard Ngoepe was appointed to chair it.

The Constitutional Court last year ordered that an inquiry be established before it could rule on allegations that Dlamini was to blame for the grants fiasco. The court ordered that all parties involved in the matter appoint a judge to investigate whether Dlamini should be held liable for the saga.

The Black Sash Trust had approached the court in March last year after the SA Social Security (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.

Advocate Seena Yacoob‚ who represents Freedom Under Law‚ an intervening party in the matter‚ will continue cross-examining Dlamini on Wednesday.

Ngoepe has also allowed former Sassa chief executive Thokozani Magwaza and the agency’s former director-general Zane Dangor to question Dlamini. The two will also testify in the inquiry.

Dlamini has since the start of the inquiry defended her role in the establishment of work streams‚ which were to deal with challenges pertaining to the administering of social grants.

Dlamini has told the inquiry that there was nothing sinister about her decision to establish the work streams. She said the process was not parallel to the role that Sassa played and that the agency knew what their role was.

Dlamini said her decision to appoint the work streams was preceded by "thorough" consultation with Sassa and a product of the recommendations of a ministerial advisory committee.