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Sassa says it committed to reinstating legitimate beneficiaries who were victims of fraud through no fault of their own.
Pictures: iStock and Sassa
The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has announced plans to refund the beneficiaries affected by the fraud scheme carried out by five of its employees.
The agency also said it would expand its investigation into widespread fraud affecting beneficiaries nationwide.
This follows the discovery of 200 contaminated beneficiary files in the Johannesburg region, prompting officials to take decisive action.
Sassa officials have begun implementing stricter measures in Johannesburg and plan to extend these efforts to all offices nationwide.
The agency has committed to reinstating legitimate beneficiaries who have been victims of fraud through no fault of their own.
“If you have been defrauded, and it’s not out of your own making, obviously the organisation would have to make sure that you get what is true to them,” Sassa spokesperson Paseka Letsatsi explained to the SABC.
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Ten suspects recently appeared in the Lenasia Magistrate’s Court, south of Johannesburg, in connection with a multimillion-rand fraud case involving Sassa.
According to authorities, an eleventh suspect remains at large.
“The police are going to pursue her, and once she gets arrested, I think it can have implications in terms of bail applications and so forth,” said Letsatsi.
He appealed directly to the fugitive: “We are appealing to her as a colleague that you are innocent until proven guilty by the court of law. It’s not necessary for you to run away from the police. You are just making your life unbearable. You are just making things very difficult for yourself.”
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Letsatsi said the agency’s fraud management unit has started to roll out its strategy, starting from the Johannesburg office, where 200 files were taken for sampling.
He emphasised that this is only the beginning of a nationwide effort: “We have started there [Joburg], but we are still going across the country in other provinces. But this was just the beginning.”
Regarding the suspects currently facing charges, Letsatsi confirmed: “Seven of them are Sassa employees, three are private individuals, and there is one who works with Sassa who is still on the run.”
ALSO READ: ‘Hundreds of charges’: Sassa fraud case is bigger than you think
Social justice movement Not In My Name International told the SABC that authorities needed to expand their investigation to include high-ranking officials who may have facilitated or orchestrated the fraud.
The organisation emphasised that corruption typically flourishes within hierarchical structures and that deeper accountability is essential to dismantle corrupt networks.
“The poorest of the poor depend on this, and when you have officials siphoning and taking those funds, it really goes to the root of our society and just the nature of corruption in our country that many times people who are supposed to be custodians of the poor are actually taking from the poor and really milking them, and it needs to come to a stop,” a representative, Themba Masango stated.
“So we hope this case will really bring out perpetrators and the book will be thrown at them and make sure that justice is served.”
Sassa’s acting CEO, Themba Matlou, recently reported that the agency distributes approximately 19 million social grants, with 15% of recipients receiving payments through Postbank.
He also revealed that more than one million beneficiaries have already been transferred to a new system, with approximately 1.5 million still awaiting migration.
Matlou emphasised that beneficiaries can choose their preferred payment method, noting that around 420 000 recipients have opted to use other commercial banks.
Thursday, 20 March, is the deadline for beneficiaries to migrate from the gold card to Postbank.
Postbank CEO Nikki Mbengashe on Monday addressed confusion surrounding the deadline for the Sassa grant gold card migration to the black Postbank card.
ALSO READ: Sassa gold card migration: You’ll still be able to get your grant after the deadline
She said beneficiaries who miss the deadline won’t lose access to their grants.
Mbengashe stated those without the new Postbank black card can still collect their payments through the South African Post Office (Sapo), which has more than 500 branches nationwide.
These beneficiaries will need to present identification documents to receive their grants over the counter.
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