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[1]  On 17 March 2017, this Court issued an order in which Freedom Under Law (FUL) was permitted to intervene in an application brought by Black Sash Trust.  FUL became the second applicant in that matter while Black Sash Trust was the first applicant.  The Minister of Social Development, the Chief Executive Officer of the South African Social Security Agency, the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), the Minister of Finance, the National Treasury, Cash Paymaster Services (Pty) Ltd (CPS) and the Information Regulator were all cited as respondents.

[2]  That application was a sequel to Allpay II[1] in which the declaration of invalidity relating to a tender that was awarded to CPS by SASSA was suspended for a fixed period to enable SASSA to remedy the defect.  The suspension was subject to certain conditions which included periodic reports to this Court on progress made by SASSA.  Indeed, SASSA gave an assurance that as from April 2017 it would take over the payment of social grants from CPS.  As a result of this assurance, the supervisory order was discharged.  But the assurance later turned out to have been false.

[3]  SASSA was not ready to pay social grants from 1 April 2017.  This became clear in the application by Black Sash Trust and FUL which was heard on 15 March 2017, 16 days before the expiry of the suspension of the declaration of invalidity.  This Court was requested to render its decision, as a matter of urgency, to avoid non-payment of social grants to millions of recipients who rely on grants for survival.