Sassa clerk in hot water for faking lover’s disability, pocketing R140k in grants

The state is seeking to recoup R140,000 from an administrative clerk at the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) after she fraudulently registered a disability grant for her lover nine years ago.

An investigation was carried out by Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane after an anonymous complaint was lodged with her office in 2019.

The clerk, Portia Mathenjwa, allegedly used her colleague Lindiwe Mashifane’s username and password, without her knowledge, and registered a fraudulent disability grant for her boyfriend Tshetlhodi Joe Masinga in 2009. Mathenjwa worked at the Mamelodi Sassa office in Tshwane.

The probe further revealed that she used a hospital patient’s medical records for the grant application.

“The medical form contained in the file was tampered with, in that the details of the original applicant were scratched off and replaced by those of Mr Masinga. The scratched details belong to Ms Virginia Aloysia Nyathi.

“The scratched out disability application suggested that Mr Masinga’s application for disability grant was approved using Ms Nyathi’s medical records,” read the report.

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Steve Biko Academic Hospital, which had Nyathi’s medical records, told investigators that Msinga was never a patient at the facility before 2009. Nyathi had been a patient since November 2003 and last visited the hospital in March 2020, the hospital said. 

It was not clear how Mthenjwa got hold of Nyathi’s medical records.

Detailing the grievance against Sassa, the complainant in the case stated that usernames and passwords were confidential and could not be accessed unless they were disclosed. The complainant believed that Mashifane, also an administration clerk, irregularly disclosed her login details by scrawling them on the wall in the Sassa office.

This, according to the whistleblower, enabled Mathenjwa to use the logins to register Masinga on Sassa’s Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens (Socpen) system.

“Factual evidence in my possession revealed that Sassa failed to put measures in place to prevent unauthorised, irregular, and fruitless and wasteful expenditure and losses, resulting from criminal conduct and to report same to the relevant treasury.  

“As a result SASSA suffered improper financial prejudice or loss by irregularly paying an amount of R142 416.45 Mr Masinga from 14 May 2009 until June 2018 which was never paid back by Mr Masinga nor recovered by Sassa,” Mkhwebane said.

Five other employees were found to have failed to adhere to Sassa processes during the final quality check of Masinga’s application, and were thus unable to identify the discrepancies and the glaring fraudulent details.

Sassa CEO  Busisiwe Memela was directed to:

• Report the irregular and wasteful expenditure to National Treasury with 30 days in terms of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA
• Put necessary measures and systems in place within two months to prevent future irregular, wasteful expenditure and losses resulting from criminal conduct.
• Within three months, finalise the implementation of a biometric solution to be used by Sassa employees to access the information and technology systems, to avoid unauthorised use of employees’ credentials.

Memela also has to keep Mkhwebane’s office abreast of developments in the criminal case opened with the Hawks against Mathenjwa to recover the R142,000 from her and her boyfriend.

Mkhwebane further recommended that a disciplinary process be instituted against Mathenjwa and her five colleagues at the Mamelodi Sassa office, including Mashifane.

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