Demonstrators outside the Constitutional Court earlier this month. The terms set by the Court have been met in the new contract with SASSA, says Cash Paymaster Services. Photo: Ihsaan Haffejee
31 March 2017
Cash Paymaster Services has signed a new deal with the SA Social Security Agency (SASSA) for the payment of social grants, as ordered by the Constitutional Court.
In a note to investors on its website today, CPS parent company Net1 UEPS said CPS had signed an “addendum” to its contract with SASSA.
The contract was due to have expired today but in the face of SASSA’s failure to take over the payment system itself as planned, the Constitutional Court ruled on 17 March that CPS should continue to pay the grants.
“The addendum extends the existing contract for a period of 12 months to March 31, 2018, under the current contract’s terms and conditions, and also includes the specific terms as ordered by the Constitutional Court of South Africa in its March 17, 2017 ruling,” Net1 said.
“The Company confirms that payment of the April grants to 10.5 million grant recipients is on track and affirms its commitment to uninterrupted service delivery.”
CPS had tried to increase the fee charged to SASSA from the current level of R16.44 per beneficiary paid, and to charge a flat rate regardless of the number of beneficiaries. CPS wanted to be paid R4.6 billion over two years, but the judges rejected its arguments.
The Court also ruled that in future CPS and SASSA must ensure that the personal data of grant beneficiaries remained private and was used only for the payment of grants.