Social grant payment provider Net1 can continue making deductions from people’s grants, the High Court in Pretoria ruled on Tuesday.

Acting Judge Corrie van der Westhuizen ordered that amendments to regulations governing the payment of social grants should not hinder deductions from being made from beneficiaries’ bank accounts.

The first three respondents – SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) CEO Thokozani Magwaza, Sassa, and Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini - were ordered to pay costs.

The Black Sash said in a statement on Monday that the judgment involved four court cases between Net 1 Applied Technologies (Pty) Ltd against Sassa, the social development department, and others.

In May 2016, the department published amended regulations to stop deductions.

Net1 and some of its subsidiaries argued that the regulations be declared invalid. It wanted deductions and debit orders to continue being made from social grant beneficiaries’ bank accounts.

The four court cases were heard on October 17 and 18, 2016.

The Black Sash, as an intervening party, argued that if the court ruled in Net1’s favour, the social development minister be given the opportunity to amend the regulations to protect grant beneficiaries from exploitative practices.