Woman convicted for Sassa grant fraud

A 42-year-old former employee of the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has recently been found guilty of perpetrating a disability grant scam that spanned nearly a decade.

The Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court handed down a sentence of three years imprisonment on 108 counts of fraud on 26 July.

Sassa employee caught after approving fraudulent grant for boyfriend

According to police reports Portia Mathenjwa was convicted of defrauding the agency by approving a disability grant for her purported partner from July 2009 to May 2018.

Mathenjwa’s deceit was uncovered in June 2020, leading to her arrest on 30 March last year.

“A case of fraud was registered at Mamelodi police station in June 2020, and assigned to the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime investigators. Mathenjwa was an employee of the South African Social Security Agency at the time,” said Captain Lloyd Ramovha.

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However, Mathenjwa’s three-year sentence was entirely suspended for five years, dependent upon Mathenjwa not being convicted of fraud or theft during the suspension period.

Another Sassa fraudster caught

This case underscores the severity of grant fraud and the consequences of exploiting vulnerable systems. However, Mathenjwa’s case is not the first of its kind, some criminals have defrauded Sassa for millions.

One example of this is the arrest of a man who allegedly defrauded the agency and the Post Office of millions.

Sepheka Stephen Masooa, a 54-year-old appeared in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in early June facing approximately 80 counts of theft and fraud.

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Masooa is accused of transmitting around R2.2 million from the Sassa payments system, via the post office and into the accounts of ghost recipients.  

Although a case was opened against him in 2022, Masooa was only arrested on 12 June this year for crimes committed in 2020.

“Fictitious accounting entries were made on the Webripost system reflecting payments to beneficiaries. The internal audit uncovered that such payments were inflated and could not be substantiated by valid documentation or supportive recipient’s bio-files” explained Hawks spokesperson Captain Lloyd Ramovha.