Protests of the Supporters of South Africa's opposition party Democratic Alliance (DA) rented the air today over issues of state welfare payments which have been mired in uncertainty.

According to Ceoafrica, the government has failed to appoint a new company to distribute the funds next month. The current distributor's contract ends on 31 March.

DA party leader, Mmusi Maimane, who led the protest outside the offices of South Africa Social Security Agency (Sassa) in the capital, Pretoria, said millions stand to lose their benefits, adding that "in less than three weeks' time, millions of South Africans stand to lose their social grants if an urgent solution to the grant payment crisis is not found".

Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini disclosed on Sunday that payments would continue, despite on-going confusion over how they would be made. 

Sassa pays out around 140bn rand ($10.7bn; £8.7bn) a year in grants to vulnerable people including pensioners, unemployed mothers and disabled people.

"No-one will go unpaid. We are sure about that," she said.

In 2014, the constitutional court found that the contract awarded to private company CPS was not lawful. 

Sassa is responsible for distributing social grants to 17 million South Africans.