Meet the new faces of South Africa's Social Development: Netshipale and Matlou

Minister of Social Development Sisisi Tolashe extended a warm welcome on Friday to newly appointed Director-General Peter Netshipale and Themba Matlou, the incoming CEO of the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa).

Tolashe extended best wishes to the new appointees in their roles and expressed deep gratitude to them and their families for their commitment to serving the South African people.

Taking up his new role two months ago, Netshipale said South Africa is faced with persistent poverty, joblessness, and inequality that remain a challenge.

However, he said the department is hard at work to provide social grants to the sum of R19 million each month to more than 2.9 million people.

“The task which is in front of us is massive, and I've got a responsibility to ensure that the department becomes the best department in South Africa,” he said.

Netshipale said with extensive footprints in all 52 districts of the country, the department has good policies and programmes that need to be implemented robustly by its highly skilled staff.

“As the new director-general of the department, I will enhance our coordination and our delivery of services. We are going to optimise our resources and ensure that we live within the austerity that we have, build the capacity of the communities, and promote innovation,” he said.

He also highlighted the fact that the department has to modernise systems for efficiency.

“We have a mandate as a department to ensure that we optimise what we are doing; our role is to ensure that every person receives grants at the right time in the right places all the time,” he said.

Netshipale added that the Department of Social Development will endeavour to reduce the level of poverty and ensure that people are empowered and communities sustained.

He said in the last nine months, since the minister was appointed, she has taken the reins and led the department. “I want South Africans to watch and see what this department will do.”

Matlou, who was appointed as Sassa CEO this week, said it is an honour that comes with enormous responsibility and expectations to lead the organisation of this magnitude.

“This is a responsibility that I've accepted with heartfelt humility, mindful of the steep road I have, but equal to the task at hand to steer Sassa in the right direction, to meet its expectations,” he said.

Having worked as a regional executive manager at Sassa in four provinces for 13 years, Matlou said he has gained the necessary knowledge and expectations of clients.

He said Sassa is going to invest in systems that will enable migration from minor business processes to more automation, called a self-application channel, for people in different provinces to improve service delivery and manage fraud.

He said different alternative payment and service delivery models will be explored.

“We are going to improve our efficiency, which includes modernising our call centre,” said Matlou, adding that the call centre has a lot of challenges.

With regard to some officials linked to fraudulent activities, Matlou said Sassa is working hard to roll out its anti-fraud management strategy with different departments and law enforcement.

He announced that engagements with staff have been completed regarding the implementation of the much-awaited biometric enrolment verification system that will assist in fraud prevention.

“We have successfully piloted this system in four provinces, and we are now ready to fully implement this.” 

He said Sassa must be taken back to where it belongs, “to the people of South Africa”.

“We've also engaged our staff members in many of our provinces in seeking to understand what the challenges they are facing are, and what new ideas we can bring in to build a better organisation,” said Matlou.

karen.singh@inl.co.za