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.
In figures: South Africa’s social grants
- 17m people receive payments (rising to 18m by 2020)
- 10% increase in social grant spending announced in this year’s budget
- Total bill comes to $11bn (£9bn) a year
- 10% of total government spending goes on social grants
- Three times what South Africa spends on defence
Source: BBC Africa
