Sassa says it is winning the fight against fraud

The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) says it is winning the fight against fraud following several successful arrests and sentences.

A recent case is that of a couple who was sentenced to eight and 10 years in jail by the Mbizana Regional Court in the Eastern Cape, Sassa said in a statement on Thursday.

The couple was facing charges of fraud amounting to R1.2 million.

Sassa added one of them was employed at the agency and had access to the system and their modus operandi was to register fraudulent social grants on the system.

Another case involved a 23-year-old suspect who appeared in the Nelspruit Regional Court in Mpumalanga for using unsuspecting people’s identities to register fraudulent grants. The case was postponed to 4 September.

Meanwhile, another suspect from the same province is also expected to appear on 7 August for trying to hack the agency’s system.

Sassa said the breakthroughs were made by law enforcement and bore testimony to its strategy of prevention, detection and strengthening internal controls, among other things.

“This strategy is driven by multi-disciplinary teams of law enforcers who collaborate to detect fraud and unleash the might of the law on those suspected of committing it.

“We have adopted a zero-tolerance approach to fraud and will stop at nothing to root it out at first sight, so criminals, be warned,” said Sassa chief executive Totsie Memela.

The public has been urged to work with the entity and law enforcement – and blow the whistle by reporting any cases of corruption.

“Sassa also works with institutions from the banking industry in the fight against fraud and corruption, and all these partnerships should present fraudsters with a mountain to climb if they plan to defraud Sassa in the future,” said Memela.

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