Share

Govt tightens up on social grants

Pretoria - The government has stepped up efforts to stamp out fraud and corruption within its social security system, Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini said on Monday.

Briefing journalists in Pretoria, she said the state provided social grants, through the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa), to over 15 million beneficiaries, with a total budget of R105bn.

"Sassa has intensified mechanisms to reduce fraud and corruption within the social security system," she said.

From the beginning of June, the agency started a full re-registration of all social grant beneficiaries "on a comprehensive biometric identification system".

Social development director general Vusi Madonsela said the number of beneficiaries who might be receiving grants fraudulently was not known.

"We can only estimate, based on international standards... that there is an estimated 10% leakage.

"Whether or not it is 10% in South Africa remains to be seen. Over the years, we've estimated we could be losing plus-minus R2bn."

However, this was still being investigated.

Madonsela said he was confident the actual number "was far less than the 10% international norm".

On the cost of the re-registration process, he said this was not an additional cost, but was included in the current tender, which would cost the government R10bn over the next five years.

Earlier this year, Sassa awarded the national contract for grant payments to Cash Paymaster Services.

Madonsela said the contract was saving the government R800m a year on the cost of administering social grants.

Responding to another question, he was not able to say how many foreigners might be illegally drawing social grants in South Africa.

"During the re-registration process we will identify which people are not South African or not resident in South Africa."

To date, Sassa had stopped grant payments to 111 people identified as non-South Africans and not eligible for a grant.

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Rand - Dollar
18.94
-0.2%
Rand - Pound
23.90
-0.0%
Rand - Euro
20.43
+0.2%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.34
+0.1%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.1%
Platinum
907.85
+1.2%
Palladium
1,012.25
+1.1%
Gold
2,221.12
+1.2%
Silver
24.86
+0.9%
Brent Crude
86.09
-0.2%
Top 40
68,346
+1.0%
All Share
74,536
+0.8%
Resource 10
57,251
+2.8%
Industrial 25
103,936
+0.6%
Financial 15
16,502
-0.1%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
Company Snapshot
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE
Government tenders

Find public sector tender opportunities in South Africa here.

Government tenders
This portal provides access to information on all tenders made by all public sector organisations in all spheres of government.
Browse tenders