Former SA Social Security Agency Thokozani Magwaza‚ will on Friday continue giving testimony at inquiry into Social Development minister Bathabile Dlamini’s role in the social grants crisis.

Magwaza‚ who started giving evidence last week‚ has told the inquiry that Dlamini ran Sassa like it was her own shop.

He claimed she disturbed the smooth running of the agency and that she would pitch up at Sassa and conduct meetings without informing him. Magwaza also told the inquiry that he had not defied Dlamini when he worked at the agency.

Magwaza’s stance is in direct contrast to claims made by Dlamini earlier at the inquiry that the trouble at Sassa started when Magwaza became the chief executive. Dlamini told the inquiry that Magwaza had threatened to terminate the controversial work streams contracts before he even assumed the top post.

The inquiry kicked off last week and is a directive of the Constitutional Court. Retired Judge Bernard Ngoepe is heading the inquiry.

The Black Sash rights group approached the court in March after Sassa acknowledged it would not be able to pay millions of social grants from April 1 2017‚ despite promising the court in November 2015 it would do so.