Sassa told to cut its budget by R209m

Despite being on the financial cliff face, the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) has to cut its budget by almost R209 million. This is in line with the budget reduction from National Treasury.

Total expenses for the 2017/18 financial year were estimated at R7.7 million, said executive manager of strategy and business development for Sassa Raphaahle Ramokgopa, who was presenting the annual performance plan to the portfolio committee on social development.

There were also implications in the implementation of a Constitutional Court order that Sassa continue to pay Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) for another year. This was because after two years, Sassa hadn’t got its ducks in a row and found an alternative agency, such as the SA Post Office, to distribute social grants to 17 million people.

As it turned out, grants were paid but the court order had been expensive, amounting to millions. Ramokgopa also outlined fraud and risk management within Sassa.

The agency had managed to prevent 72 fraud, theft and corruption cases across all provinces. She stressed that the entity planned to ensure that during this financial year, 100% of all eligible suppliers would be paid within 30 days.

In addition to the 7.7 million grant recipients, the goal was to register another 1.5 million new applicants who needed social grants.

– denisew@citizen.co.za