The Constitutional Court has upheld the ruling that the SASSA tender awarded to Net1 UEPS company Cash Paymaster Services is invalid, and has ordered the social security agency to offer the contract for tender again.
The Constitutional Court has ordered the following remedy:
* The declaration of invalidity of the contract between SASSA and CPS is upheld, but suspended until a new tender has been awarded in accordance with 2 below, or for the remainder of the existing contract period if no tender award is made.
* SASSA has to initiate a new tender process during the next 30 days. The request for proposal for the new tender must contain adequate safeguards to ensure that no loss of lawful existing social grants occurs, the payment of lawful existing grants is not interrupted, and personal data obtained in the payment process remains private and may not be used in any manner for any purpose other than payment of grants or for any purpose sanctioned by the Minister of Social Development.
* The new tender must be for a period of five years and a new and independent Bid Evaluation and Bid Adjudication Committee must be appointed to evaluate and adjudicate the new tender process. Their evaluation and adjudication must be made public by filing, with the Registrar of the Constitutional Court, a status report on the first Monday of every quarter of the year until completion of the process.
* If the new tender is not awarded, the declaration of invalidity of the current contract between SASSA and CPS will be further suspended until completion of the five-year year period for which the contract was originally awarded. In this event, SASSA must, within 14 days of its decision not to award the tender lodge a report to the Registrar of the Constitutional Court setting out all the relevant information on whether and when it will be ready to assume the duty to pay grants itself.
Furthermore, CPS must in this event file with the Constitutional Court an audited statement of expenses incurred, income received and net profit earned during the five year completed contract period, which statement must also be verified by an independent auditor appointed by SASSA and filed with the Constitutional Court.
* AllPay has been ordered to pay SASSA’s and CPS’s costs in relation to the application to lead further evidence brought in the main merits application.
The contract between SASSA and CPS to distribute social welfare grants to 10-million South Africans every month remains in force and effect until SASSA has completed the new process and decides to award the new tender, or for the remainder of the current five year contract if it decides not to award the new tender.
“We are relieved that the protracted two-year legal battle regarding the SASSA tender is finally over and that the Court has provided guidance regarding the way forward,” says Dr Serge Belamant, chairman and CEO of Net1.
“We remain committed to provide our 10-million social welfare grant recipients and SASSA with an efficient, world-class payment service under our current contract with SASSA and we look forward to participating in any new tender process.
“Based on our experience during the last two years, we are convinced that our UEPS/EMV solution with biometric verification and off-line capability is the most appropriate product to service the millions of South Africans who are reliant on this vital service, especially the most vulnerable citizens in the remote areas of the country,” he adds.