A joint meeting of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) and the Portfolio Committee on Social Development today resolved to give National Treasury until Monday, 06 November 2017 to finalise the review of the South African Post Office’s (Sapo) capabilities to implement and manage the national payment system of social grants.

The Committee has also resolved that the review should be shared between Sapo and the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) on Tuesday and that the two entities should brief the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) when it meets on Tuesday, 07 November 2017.

The Committee has also decided to request the leadership of the IMC to brief the joint Committee on Wednesday, 08 November 2017 on the decisions it has taken on the review and the issue at hand.

The Committee has instructed Sassa to halt the advertising of the tender to the public that was scheduled for Friday, 03 November 2017. This is to give an opportunity for National Treasury to conduct the review and come up with measures that would iron out the issues that are problematic.

The Committee will adopt a report next week Wednesday, 08 November 2017 that will be tabled before the National Assembly on the outcomes and the resolutions taken by the Committee in an effort to assist in reaching a solution that will be to the benefit of the country.