Sassa says R50m ‘potentially’ lost to fraud over past two years

The agency said on Friday that 40 of its officials are implicated in 701 fraud cases that were detected within the agency. 

Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu says the agency suffered a potential loss of some R50 million.

Zulu was responding to a question asked by EFF MP Laetitia Heloise Arries, who wanted clarity on the total amount lost by the SA Social Security Agency in the past two years due to fraud where SASSA officials were involved.

"These cases ranged from fraudulent collection of grant funds intended for deceased individuals, the submission of disability grant applications with falsified medical information, and the illicit collection of child support grants,” said Zulu.

"Of the total suspected cases of fraud detected for the period in question, 698 were finalised while three are still under investigation. A total of 37 cases were referred to law enforcement agencies for criminal investigation and prosecution," said Zulu.

On Friday, Sassa CEO Busisiwe Memela-Khambula said the issues that led to delays and non-payments of social grants in September had been resolved.

Some 600,000 grant beneficiaries were left with empty pockets in September due to what was described as a technical glitch at Postbank.

The figure represents some 10% of the more than five million beneficiaries who access their grants through the state-owned entity.

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