We all remember how SASSA was scammed out of R11 million of money with the R350 grant with public servants and prisoners were seen benefitting for the grant which was geared towards unemployed individuals.
Meanwhile, thousands of South Africans who are desperate and are in need are still waiting for their R350 grant payments to come through for months now.
Over R700 million in R350 grants are yet to paid to qualifying beneficiaries with Social Development Minister, Lindiwe Zulu, saying that this is due to SASSA needing to verify whether people qualified or not.
On the corruption, SASSA CEO, Totsie Memela, said:
Those that were working for the state and those that were working for the prison and those that were in outside countries that were continuing to get a grant, we have identified all the departments where people have worked.
She continued to say, "The DG (Deputy General) has written to all the DGs in that departments. We will ultimately do the collection but what we've done is, we've handed those people over to the Fusion Centre."
The Fusion Centre is the body that comprises of the Financial Intelligence Centre, Special Investigating Unit, State Security Agency, National Prosecuting Authority and the South African Police Services. They then deal with corruption in the country.
Zulu, whose department handles SASSA, said that these individuals will be held accountable by law. SASSA is said to be working hard on finding these criminals.
Many applicants have been approved for the SASSA COVID-19 grant, however, even though the grant has ended, they are still waiting on their payments. SASSA has announced that payments are underway and that those who have been approved will still get paid.
If you applied before 30 April but you're waiting for feedback, if you're approved or have already been, you will then still receive payments backdated from the month you applied. Payments will however only be made for the month of April or earlier.
