The Constitutional Court has issued a new directive to Sassa and Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini on why it missed the deadline to respond to questions by the court.

The previous acting CEO of Sassa Thamo Mzobe, current acting CEO Wiseman Magasela and Dlamini were directed to file affidavits by 15:00 on Tuesday on why the directions by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng were not complied with, Mogoeng's spokeperson Nathi Mncube confirmed to News24.

The court had sent Dlamini and the grants agency a set of stern questions on March 8. They were given a deadline of Monday 16:00 to make the submission.Dlamini and Sassa failed to meet the deadline to answer the court's questions about when Sassa knew it would not be able to take over the grants payments, when its contract with Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) expires on March 31. The court also wanted to know which officials were aware of this.The department instead filed heads of arguments on Monday and a proposed draft order but did not file affidavits expected to indicate who should be liable for the crisis.