DA calls for a debate of national importance on social grants crisis
23 February 2017
The DA has written to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms Baleka Mbete, to request a debate of national public importance on the impending social grants crisis, following Minister Bathabile Dlamini’s failure to give any clarity in the Portfolio Committee yesterday, as to when they will approach the Constitutional Court about the invalid CPS contract.
The Speaker is authorised to schedule an urgent debate on a matter of public importance in terms of National Assembly Rule 103. It is evident that the Department of Social Development (DSD) and the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) are in complete disarray. The failure to give any assurance to the 17 million South Africans who depend on social grants, is a matter of public importance.
This lack of clarity on the distribution of social grants is deeply worrying considering that the invalid CPS contract ends in 37 days, on 31 March 2017.
Clearly, the Minister and SASSA are playing political games with the lives of 17 million poor and vulnerable South Africans who depend on social grants just to get by each day.