Grant fraud to the value of R7 million has been uncovered at the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) office in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town.
According to SASSA, the discovery was made following an investigation into an official who was found to have defrauded the grant system by illegally approving grant applications to family members.
The official, who is a grant administrator responsible for processing grant applications, enrolled 10 social grant beneficiaries on the system in order to access grant money.
According to SASSA national spokesperson Kgomoco Diseko, 14 officials from the Mitchells Plain office are now being investigated for defrauding the grant disbursement system.
SASSA head of investigation Renay Ogle says one official, who has since been suspended, defrauded the system of R172 132.
"The criminal investigation is ongoing," says Ogle.
Diseko notes a member of the community alerted the agency to the fraudulent activities that were taking place at the Mitchells Plain office.
"The suspended official has a case opened against him and police investigations are continuing," says Diseko.
"SASSA is working closely with law enforcement agencies all over the country into grant fraud and this partnership has delivered excellent results," he says.
If convicted, the official could face up to a few years in prison. Diseko explains that in a similar case, a magistrate in De Aar recently sentenced an official to a four-year prison sentence.
"These types of convictions we continue to secure will serve as a deterrent and we will see a steeper decline in incidents of fraud and corruption," he says.
Other troubles
SASSA was recently dealt another blow when Net1 UEPS Technologies announced its withdrawal from the tender process to distribute social grants to 15 million South Africans.
SASSA awarded Net1's Cash Paymaster Services division a tender valued at R10 billion over a five-year period. However, following a ruling by the South African Constitutional Court, it was decided SASSA had to re-issue the tender.
It was alleged Net1 had breached SA's National Credit Act, and that the deal conducted with SASSA was "irregular".
No further details on SASSA's tender process have been revealed.
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