As a provider of the country’s social security services and social grant payments, Sassa has also been targeted by fraudsters. Some interesting findings have been made after investigating the identity of the fraudsters.
Over the past ten years, the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has reported nearly 500 cases of people, including officials, who are allegedly involved in social grant fraud. These reports have been made to the police for criminal prosecution.
Bridget Masango, a member of parliament for the DA wrote to Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu to inquire about the criminal complaints Sassa and her department had filed against people who unfairly benefitted from receiving social handouts as well as the authorities who assisted them.
The number of charges that were successfully prosecuted was another question that was posed to the minister. According to Zulu, between the 2012/2013 and 2021/2022 financial years, the South African Social Security Agency referred 489 cases for criminal investigations and potential prosecution and 31 were successfully prosecuted.
She added that the case investigation involved 1 174 individuals, out of which 761 were officials. Additionally, Sassa has a fraud prevention policy that has been approved and is in line with the national anti-corruption strategy.
“Fraud awareness campaigns are conducted on a quarterly basis as per the operational plan. The emphasis of the strategy is on fraud prevention through fraud awareness capabilities.”
The minister also pointed out that for the current cycle of the R350 grant, which ran from April 2022 to July 2022, the Independent Tribunal received a total of 3 595 147 appeals.
All appeals for the SRD grant applications rejected by Sassa for the month of June 2022 have been decided upon by the Independent Tribunal.
She explained that the remaining appeals are still within the 90-day window, which will run out during the pertinent months.
Only 516 442 of the 3.5 million appeals received, according to Zulu, were decided upon in June, while 3 078 705 remained unresolved. Furthermore, The adjudication processes relating to April – May 2022 are underway, according to the minister.
Recommended Reading: SASSA Status Check For R350 Payment Dates
