Question NW3453 to the Minister of Social Development
24 November 2023 - NW3453
Masango, Ms B to ask the Minister of Social Development
(1)Considering that the strike by workers from the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) is seemingly having a direct and dire effect on the SA Social Security (SASSA) grant payment system, what (a) role does SITA employees play in the SASSA social grant payment environment and (b) is the scope of the role played by SITA in the payment of SASSA grants; (2) what (a) preparations have (i) SASSA and (ii) her department put in place should the specified strike continue and (b) measures have (i) SASSA and (ii) her department implemented to ensure that grant payments continue without disruptions; (3) what steps has her department taken to reduce the dependency on other government agencies and/or departments to protect the poor and vulnerable?
Reply:
1(a) The State Information Technology Agency (SITA) plays a very crucial role in the payment of social grants. Key amongst others, SASSA has contracted SITA to provide Social Pensions System (SOCPEN) application maintenance; SOCPEN functional support; SOCPEN mainframe hosting; geographical information services (GIS) support; Basic Accounting System (BAS); and PERSAL (Government employee Personal and Salary System) mainframe hosting project. These services directly impact SASSA’s ability to manage the administration and payment of social grants.
(b) Refer to A.
(2) (a)(i)(ii)(b)(i)(ii) SASSA had proactively engaged with SITA to ensure that social grants payments are not adversely affected by the strike action. In turn, SITA assured SASSA in a formal letter of its mitigation plans and business continuity in case they were unable to dissuade the participation of key personnel in the strike.
SASSA had also put in place contingency plans to ensure the administration and payment of social grants were not disrupted during the strike action. These would have included executing jobs that enable bank accounts verification and updating records prior to payment; extracting the payment file as per predetermined validation and Bankserv format, routing files to National Treasury (PERSAL) for routing to Bankserv and routing cash book files to National Treasury (PMG) for funding purposes.
(3) SASSA is in the process of drafting its requirements for supply chain procurement processes to source a service provider to replace SOCPEN. The replacement will ensure that SASSA opt for a standard modern technology and in a long run drastically reduce dependency on SITA. It is anticipated the transition will be phased-in over a 3-year project.
SASSA is also engaged in a Business Process Reengineering (BPR) project of which one of its aims is ensuring that the IT environment is resourced through a hybrid model (partially outsourced/ insourced/co-sourced) therefore reducing more technical dependence on SITA. Additional measures include the implementation of online application channel as an additional option for new applications and change of circumstances processing, thereby enabling activation of another channel should the accessibility to SOCPEN have been affected by the strike. This channel is not dependent on SOCPEN.