Johannesburg – Legal action is being considered against Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) over an alleged scam, Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini said on Thursday.

“We are going to meet the lawyers and see what other possible means we can use to ensure that we move forward,” she told SABC radio news.

CPS was allegedly deducting money from grant beneficiaries illegally. The legal action included possibly terminating the multi-billion rand grants distribution contract.

Some of the deductions left pensioners receiving only a few rand at the end of each month.

On 29 August, Dlamini said there was nothing corrupt about the SA Social Security Agency’s R10bn grants tender to CPS.

The tender would stand despite a ruling on 28 August, by the Gauteng South High Court in Johannesburg, that the awarding of the contract was illegal and invalid. The court, however, did not set aside the tender to provide grants to 10 million South Africans.

Dlamini said irregularities identified in the awarding of the tender were technical and administrative in nature.

– SAPA