Minister to tackle social security mess

Cape Town - Social Development Minister Edna Molewa on Thursday pledged to address concerns raised by Auditor General Terence Nombembe in a report on the accounts of the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa).

Sassa was unable to verify the expenditure of about R10.5bn in social grants, and this led to the department receiving a qualified audit on its 2009-10 financial statements.

"The audit report is positively perceived as bringing to my attention key areas that require improvement in order to achieve efficiency, effectiveness and economy in the utilisation of public resources," Malewa said in a statement.

"I have accepted all the recommendations made by the auditor general. Some of the recommendations have already been implemented and I shall arrange for the full implementation of the rest. I am committed to continue managing public funds in a prudent, effective and accountable manner."

Nombembe said in his report that he could not "satisfy myself as to the occurrence of social assistance grant expenditure with an approximate value of R10.5bn due to limitations placed on the scope of my work by the Sassa.

"A number of grant beneficiary files requested from Sassa were not presented for audit purposes. Furthermore, numerous files presented by Sassa did not contain the necessary information required to form the basis for a valid grant payment."

The findings were included in the department's annual report tabled in Parliament last month.

Molewa said she had noted "the auditor general's view that the effectiveness of the measures we have put in place needs to be assessed.

"We are determined to push on with the process of ensuring that the Agency deliver services in a more transparent and accountable way to better serve the people of South Africa."

She said steps already taken to remedy the situation included recruiting better qualified senior managers and financial staff, putting in place stricter procurement procedures and training and applying robust financial controls.

Sassa is responsible for distributing about R80bn in grants annually to roughly 13 million beneficiaries on behalf of the government, but has for years been plagued by corruption and mismanagement.

In the 2007/08 financial year it incurred irregular expenditure of more than R60m.

The Special Investigating Unit has been investigating fraud in the social security system since 2005.