ANA reports that the Democratic Alliance (DA) has called for payment provider SmartPurse to be fired following the company’s late payment of community health workers (CHWs) in Gauteng.  

DA MPL Jack Bloom reported that the CHWs had been informed that they would not be paid at the end of November and instead would only get their pay on 6 December.  According to the DA, SmartPurse is being paid R87 million to make payouts to about 7,000 CHWs every month for a period of three years.  A Gauteng health department spokesperson said CHWs would be paid by Friday and that they would receive their December stipends before Christmas.  Bloom said the planned late payments were “outrageous” as CHWs only got paid a R2,500 stipend and they had bills to pay like everyone else.

• Read this report in full at The Citizen

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