Statement of the Inter Ministerial
Committee (IMC) on Comprehensive Social Security
The
Inter Ministerial Committee (IMC) on Comprehensive Social Security met at its
ordinary meeting on Tuesday 7th November 2017, to consider progress on the implementation
of the Constitutional Court orders relating to the payment of social grants. As
per the recommendations of its previous IMC meeting held on 13th September
2017, considered the reports from South African Social Security Agency (SASSA),
South African Post Office (SAPO) and the National Treasury on its engagement
with the two entities on the same issue.
The
IMC met against the backdrop of ongoing engagement between SASSA and SAPO, and
received briefings on the recent meeting between the Joint Committees of SCOPA
and Portfolio Committee on Social Development. The IMC noted the intervention
of the parliamentary committees and noted the public anxiety that has arisen
due to the delay in the finalization of the appointment of an entity to pay
social grants, after the expiry of the current service provider contract at the
end of March 2018.
At
its meeting, the IMC considered the report of National Treasury on the review
process on the engagement between SASSA and SAPO. The National Treasury
confirmed the hybrid model for the payment of grants.
The
IMC is of the view that government will move with the necessary speed to
resolve all outstanding issues related to this matter. The IMC has thus taken a
decision to fast track the introduction of an integrated payment system which
will be provided by Government through a partnership between SASSA and SAPO.
The approach will focus on the consolidation of the respective strengths of
each entity and possible additional capacity from other parties.
The
intervention includes partnership between SASSA and the following entities
including SAPO, Home Affairs, State Security Agency and the establishment of a
dedicated team to review and strengthen the project plan by next week Friday.
The Project Plan will outline the detailed plan for execution, resource
requirements, critical milestones and communication strategy. This will also
include the commitment to draw in additional capacity from other organs of
state as may be required. The roles and responsibilities of each party to the
partnership will be detailed in the implementation Protocol.
The
mandate of the dedicated team will be to ensure finalization of the cooperation
agreements between SASSA and SAPO, the governance and contracting framework,
risk assessment and mitigation, monitoring and evaluation. The dedicated team
will report weekly to the IMC and will commit resources needed for execution of
the project.
The
IMC reaffirms its commitment to implement the Constitutional Court Orders
through the deployment of all necessary resources to achieve the implementation
of new system by end of March 2018. The IMC also reassure all South Africans
and in particular the social grant beneficiaries that no card will expire on
December 31, 2017.