The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has informed beneficiaries of child maintenance that payments will be delayed due to departmental systems, including MojaPay, not being accessible.
MojaPay is the system the department utilises to administrate maintenance payments.
While the department is not able to determine the exact date when the required systems will be restored, the department will ensure that all child maintenance money is kept secure for payment to the rightful beneficiaries when the systems are back online.
The current system challenges do not affect the receipt of child maintenance money from the maintenance paying parent or employers who deduct these from the paying parent’s salary.
The monthly child maintenance deductions will go ahead as scheduled.
“IT experts from the department, Industry partners and selected organs of the State are working together to urgently restore the systems affected by the ransomware attack, including MojaPay.
“The MojaPay system will be given the utmost priority to ensure that any inconvenience to maintenance beneficiaries is minimised,” the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development said in a statement.
“The IT experts have thus far managed to come up with an alternative email system for better coordination of the department’s crisis response plan.
“Staff members at various levels have been migrated into the new email solution. The departmental website had also been restored, so as to be able to publish updates regarding services to the public,” the department said.
The Masters Offices are currently, as interim measure, using a manual process to provide bereaved families, in exceptional cases, where there is a need to access funds from the deceased's banking account for burial costs. No manual letters of executorship or authority will be issued in this crisis period.
“The department would once again like to extend its profound apologies to all users of justice services who have been negatively affected by the current system challenges. More updates on progress in restoring the IT system will be provided as soon as they're available,” the department said. – SAnews.gov.za
