Independent Tribunal for Social Assistance Appeals

1. Independent Tribunal for Social Assistance Appeals Portfolio Committee Presentation 20/01/09

2. Presentation Overview A: Independent Tribunal Service Delivery Context B: Establishment Progress C: Current Status D: Way-forward.

3. PART: AIT - Context of service delivery

4. Context of Service Delivery Department of Social Development South African Social Security Agency Policy Implementer Policy Custodian The Minister Independent Tribunal System Beneficiary Protector

5. APPEALS SERVICE DELIVERY MODEL Application PRE- ADJUDICATION ACTIVITIES DATA/INFO UNIT Registry Call Centre CASE MANAGEMENT OFFICE ADJUDICATION OFFICE Referral back for info MEDICAL ASSESSMENT LEGAL ASSESSMENT SASSA KEY STAKEHOLDERS SASSA DOCUMENT REVIEW CONFIRM, VARY, SET ASIDE ANY OTHER JUST DECISION APPELLANT OR REPRESENTATIVE or ORAL HEARING PAJA s7(2) Post Adjudication Office Judicial Review Adjudication Decision

6. PART: BEstablishment Progress

7. B1: Establishment Progress • Approval of an interim organisational structure by MPSA; • Discussions with DPSA and Treasury on the organisational form/model at an advanced stage; • Appointment of tribunal panel members (doctors, attorneys, civil society members), a total of 128; • Appointment of full time professional staff; • Pilot regional offices established in KZN; EC & Gauteng at an advanced stage;

8. B2: Establishment Progress • Standard operating procedures implemented to provide standardization of tribunal processes; • Appeals MIS fully functional with a capability for providing statistics, call centre functionality as well as retrieval of critical documentation for purposes of adjudication; • Appeals communication/liaison strategy currently being finalised; • Ministerial Determination currently being implemented to regulate the interim administrative support provided by SASSA

9. B3: Composition of Tribunals • Each Panel sitting is constituted as follows: • Presiding Officer who is a Legal Practitioner • Member of Civil Society (assessor); • Medical Practitioner (assessor) • Secretariat Services • Services of an Interpreter in some cases

10. B4: SASSA/DSD Ministerial Determination CURRENT WORKFLOW PROCESS A PROCESS DSD NATIONAL APPEALS TRIBUNAL SASSA HQ (QA) REGIONAL Receive pre-adjudication info & forward ACCESS TO APPELANTS ACCESS TO APPELANTS Case Management and analysis B PROCESS ADJUDICATION Panels Secretariat DISTRICT Receive pre-adjudication info & escalate C PROCESS LOCAL Help Desk Distribute appeal forms Guidelines & escalate Develop Supply forms, guidelines ADMINISTRATIVE ROLE ADJUDICATION ROLE

11. PART: CCurrent Status

12. C1: Current Status • Adjudication approaches • Document Review • Oral hearing; • As a transitional measure to enhance the right of access, all tribunal hearings conducted as special outreach projects to through district and local offices; • Statistics to date reflected in slide C2

14. PART: DWay-forwardPriorities, 2009/10

15. D1:Phased decentralisation TRANSITION (DSD/SASSA COLLABORATION) 1/04/06 - 31/03/09 SEMI DECENTRALISE 2009/10 POST TRANSITION 2010 DSD ADJUDICATION ROLE SASSA ADMINISTRATIVE ROLE • Established Appeals Tribunal • Regulations • MIS Gauteng Limpopo Mpumalanga • Ministerial Determination (s13(1)(a)(b) • SASSA to provide administrative role, provide access to appellants: • Adjudication function • Pre-adjudication assessment • Adjudication by appointed tribunal members • Document and oral hearing KZN Free State North West Eastern Cape Northern Cape Western Cape SAA, 2004 as amended SAA, 2004 Legislative Mandate

16. D2: Way-forward • Implementation of a phased decentralization approach; • Identification of suitable venues for regional offices; • Enlisting of tribunal members per provinces to enhance provincial adjudication capacity; • Implementation of backlog management strategy • Finalization of the tribunal business model & mobilization of requisite resources; • Finalization of regulations for the Independent Tribunal;

17. Thank you