The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has recovered nearly R150 million in Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant payments made to individuals who were not eligible.
However, the auditor-general’s report highlighted ongoing issues with non-compliance, revealing that payments were still being made to ineligible recipients.
The issue was brought into focus when two Stellenbosch University students discovered that their ID numbers had been used fraudulently to apply for the R370 SRD grant.
Speaking to HeartFM and GroundUp, the students said they found numerous fraudulent applications using ID numbers of people born between January and May 2006.
This suggested that nearly all individuals born during this time period had been improperly registered for the grant upon turning 18, an unlikely scenario.
In a briefing to the Portfolio Committee on Social Development, Senior Audit Manager Puleng Molapo explained that between May 2020 and August 2021, Sassa made payments to ineligible individuals, violating the Public Finance Management Act.
Molapo recommended that Sassa collaborate with companies that retain data to ensure beneficiaries are properly vetted before payments are issued.
Other irregularities highlighted in the report included a R74 million payment for services not delivered and R316 million in overpayments to Cash Paymaster Services, a company still in liquidation. Efforts to recover these funds are ongoing.
Molapo also reported that the Department of Social Development underspent by R1.5 billion on social assistance, with the child support grant accounting for R792 million of that amount and the SRD grant for R591 million.
The majority of child support grant recipients were between the ages of 18 and 35, indicating the significant number of young unemployed parents dependent on the grant.
The auditor-general also revealed that nearly R15 million in grant payments had been issued to deceased individuals due to delays in updating the national population register, particularly in rural areas where deaths are not immediately recorded.
Additionally, R1.5 million was paid to Sassa employees, and R133,800 to Postbank employees, despite regulations prohibiting this.
To address these issues, the auditor-general recommended that Sassa implement a regular eligibility verification process and collaborate with the State Information Technology Agency to integrate financial systems, enabling better monitoring of beneficiaries.
Disciplinary action was also suggested for Sassa employees who fail to disclose their receipt of social grants.
Michelle Magerman, a business executive at the Auditor-General of South Africa (Agsa), emphasised the importance of means testing but noted that it should be conducted without causing undue frustration for citizens.
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