POLITICS

DA marchers call for Bathabile Dlamini to quit

Mmusi Maimane says minister is incompetent, and cannot serve in any position in govt

Pretoria - Thousands of Democratic Alliance supporters marched through the streets of Pretoria on Friday, calling on Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini to resign.

People looked from their office buildings while leader Mmusi Maimane lead the crowd from Princess Park, turning several Pretoria streets blue.

They marched to the department's offices.

"She is incompetent, and cannot serve in any position in government," Maimane said to the crowd after the march.

He said government must tell South Africans now whether there was an agreement between South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) and Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) for the delivery of social grants after March 31.

"If there is such an agreement, Minister Dlamini must let us know what the terms of this agreement are, including the costs and timeframes."

Maimane said Dlamini must appear before a parliamentary inquiry to explain her actions and that of her department.

The future of more than 17 million people hangs in the balance as the Department of Social Development continues to try and find a solution to the grant payment saga.

The Constitutional Court on Wednesday requested urgent clarity from the department and Sassa on the matter.

The court posed stern questions, saying it wanted to know exactly when it had dawned on Sassa that it was not going to have its own grants payment system in place by the time the CPS contract expired on March 31.

It also wants to know who was at fault. The answers are required by 16:00 on Monday.

The social development department welcomed the Constitutional Court's request for more information on Wednesday.

"We have always contended that the Constitutional Court is best placed to deal with the matter at hand because social assistance in South Africa is a human right enshrined in the Constitution," the department said.

News24