The South African Social Security Agency has announced that approximately 10 400 people were involved in defrauding their system. According to the agency, nearly half of these people live outside of the country.
However, the agency has found that it was not only ordinary people who were taking advantage of the system but also many SASSA employees.
The agency announced that the employees accused of corruption work in Cape Town and may be the reason for slow service at the branch level.
It is well known that receiving a grant from SASSA is not always simple, as many successful COVID-19 SRD grant beneficiaries have been waiting to receive their payments since last year.
Many beneficiaries continue to wait in long queues outside grant paypoints in hopes of receiving their payments as many of them rely on these grants to support their families and put food on their tables.
One of the beneficiaries, Mark Matebe, believes that the money made available by the government should reach the people they were intended for and not be paid to people who are defrauding the system.
Matebe also stated that those employees who were accused of fraud should be replaced so that the SASSA offices can remain open and can continue to serve the communities.
Hlengani Bila, the general manager of SASSA Fraud Management and Compliance, stated that only a small number of SASSA employees were involved.
Bila and his team have conducted a fraud risk assessment to identify the causes of the fraudulent activity.
SASSA has announced that they are working closely with various teams to help prosecute and recover all the money that has been stolen.
