“That is not acceptable in a constitutional democracy. We have a free press … we get to ask questions … we get to do that. That’s our job … and your job is to provide us with satisfactory answers and assure the people of South Africa that you’re actually in control of this crisis… and I don’t think anyone is thinking that at this point.”
A tense media briefing in Tshwane called by Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini to discuss her plan to ensure grant payments are made at the start of April, ended with a journalist explaining to her why free press matters.
Minister Dlamini says social assistance is a constitutional right and her department won’t fail in delivering on this right.
The minister remains adamant they will pay grants due to 17-million recipients come 1 April 2017, despite questions on how this will actually be achieved.
Dlamini was speaking to journalists in Pretoria on Sunday morning.
She was addressing the plans the department had made regarding the implementation of a payment system to ensure beneficiaries will receive their grants come next month.
At the question-and-answer session following the briefing, she defended her track record and slammed people who had gone out to “complain about the crisis”.
The segment got quite heated when specialist reporter Karyn Maughan, a journalist at eNCA, pushed the minister for answers. The SABC apparently cut the feed but eNCA recorded the entire clip which you can watch below:
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