South Africa’s constitutional court has averted a crisis on welfare payments to 17 million people by extending the contract of the processing company by one year.
The court had ruled in 2014 that Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) was awarded the contract unlawfully.
The state had failed to clarify how the payments would be handled after CPS’s contract ends on 31 March.
One in three South Africans depend on these payments.
Minister Bathabile Dlamini, who is in charge of the state’s Social Security Agency (Sassa), has been facing growing calls to resign over how she has handled the crisis.
The court ruled that Sacca and CPS are under a constitutional obligation to ensure that payments are processed at the beginning of April.
The court ruled that Sacca and CPS are under a constitutional obligation to ensure that payments are processed at the beginning of April.
It also ordered Ms Dlamini to file affidavits every three months on how Sacca plans to make the payments in future.
Source: bbc.com
