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Grant laws: Sassa locks horns with Grindrod

A legal showdown is looming between the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) and Grindrod Bank over the interpretation of amended regulations under the Social Security Act. Sassa laid criminal charges this week against Grindrod Bank and Cash Paymaster Services (CPS). CPS has a contract to pay social grants, while Grindrod provides banking services to CPS. Sassa accused the companies of refusing to comply with the newly amended regulations as contained in the Social Assistance Act. Sassa spokesman Kgomoco Diseko said the agency decided to open the case because the firms’ refusal to comply was a criminal offence. The amended regulations prohibited financial services providers contracted to pay out social grants from deducting money from the recipient’s accounts, Diseko said.

“The only money that the law allows to be deducted is for funeral policy and the condition is that it must not be more than 10 percent of the value of the grant,” Diseko said. He said initiatives were taken to stop the deductions. When these failed, the Department of Social Development introduced the regulations “to clarify the issue that no deductions of any nature would be permitted from the Sassa card“. The Department of Social Development said last month that R140 billion in social grants would be paid to the elderly, people with disabilities and children this financial year. Diseko said Sassa informed CPS of the amended regulations on May 6, the day it published the new regulations. Deductions on Sassa cards should have ceased immediately. But Grindrod is digging in its heels. “Grindrod Bank has not been contacted directly by Sassa or any regulatory authority in respect of such proposed charges. Grindrod Bank is of the view that Sassa misinterprets these newly amended regulations… Clarity is being sought from the courts as to the interpretation of these new regulations,” it said.

Source: www.iol.co.za

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Grant laws: Sassa locks horns with Grindrod

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