Thokozani Magwaza, CEO of the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), has applied to the Constitutional Court for permission to file an affidavit countering claims made by Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini, who said the social grants crisis was effectively his fault.
In her response to the court on why she should not be held personally responsible for the costs involved in the case, Dlamini reportedly said there was a the lack of information coming from Sassa was because of a change of leadership at the time.
"The effect of the change of leadership at Sassa, and the fact that Mr Magwaza failed to engage comprehensively with me during this critical time, in my view, contributed to delays in implementation of certain critical decisions..." Dlamini reportedly told the court, said Business Day.
The court found Dlamini liable, and said there was little the CEO could do without her direction.
Magwaza says he would like to dispute her version of events, reported GroundUp:
In a letter to the court on Monday, Magwaza said: "I perused the affidavit filed by the Minister of the Department of Social Development, and noted that... it contains factors that are inaccurate. With leave of the Honourable Court, I am ready to file an affidavit to reflect the correct version of events."
He said he wanted to inform the Court of "the inaccuracy" of the contents of the Minister's affidavit, "in order to dispel the perceptions that the public may harbour against me."