Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini was visibly irritated at having to answer questions at Monday's historic inquiry, ordered by the Constitutional Court and headed by Judge Bernard Ngoepe, to determine the minister's role in the 2017 Sassa crisis. The inquiry will also determine whether she should personally cough up for legal fees. Dlamini denied that workstreams she had been responsible for setting up, at the cost of R47-million, had been irregular or had undermined the work of Sassa. By MARIANNE THAMM.

Apart from the translation from English to Zulu and back again, things moved relatively swiftly at the start on Monday of the Section 38 Inquiry at the Offices of the Chief Justice into Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini's culpability and responsibility for legal fees in the SassaGate near-crisis in March last year.

Dlamini's counsel, Advocate Ishmael Semenya, essentially led the minister through a 41-page affidavit that she had submitted earlier.

In her affidavit Dlamini blames former Sassa CEO Thokozani Magwaza (who barely had any time to pucker his seat when he suddenly "resigned") and other officials for the crisis. Dlamini also denied that she had delayed or frustrated the process in order to ensure that CPS remained...