SASSA grant fraud has been investigated over the last year by the Auditor General of South Africa (AGSA). This action was instigated when Minister Sisisi Tolashe came in and replaced the previous CEO. Now, SASSA has updated the Portfolio Committee on Social Development on the steps taken to curb SASSA grant fraud.
Current CEO, Themba Matlou, told Parliament that SASSA has in fact implemented 98% of the corrective actions as directed by the AGSA. However, even though it is working closely with law enforcement, gaps in its security systems still remain, heard the committee.
SASSA GRANT FRAUD
As such, the South African Social Security Agency revealed four outstanding issues related to SASSA grant fraud, according to a statement on its website. The AGSA audit – spanning 2023/24 – revealed two major IT and administrative issues.
However, Matlou told parliament that of its SASSA grant fraud action plan, only a few corrective measures remain. “We are happy to indicate that 173 out of 177 corrections have been implemented. We admit our systems allowed some fraudulent applications through. We’ve already suspended officials and we are working with law enforcement (the Hawks Special Investigating Unit) on the cases,” reports GroundUp.
PREVENTATIVE BIOMETRICS
This is why the agency introduced the unpopular mandatory biometrics to curb SASSA grant fraud. Previously, the old green ID booklet could be easily forged. Now everyone with a SASSA grant can be digitally identified.
Likewise, in its audit, the AGSA flagged grants paid to deceased beneficiaries. This is common for old-age beneficiaries who die and the families wish to continue receiving payment. In one case, nearly 500 beneficiaries received R55 million in disability and old-age grants in the Eastern Cape between 2018 and 2023.
BULK RECALL TO STOP SASSA GRANT FRAUD
Moreover, since 2021, more than R140 million has continued to be paid to 75 000 long-dead SASSA grant beneficiaries. SASSA Chief Financial Officer Tsakeriwa Chauke blamed this on the late/non reporting of deaths with Home Affairs.
To address this, SASSA is developing a ‘bulk recall’ system to claw back payments if a death is confirmed. The Bankserv/South African Reserve Bank (SARB) mechanism is expected to be up and running by the end of the month (September 2025). With this, Chauke confirmed that such SASSA grant fraud can be easily recalled from offending parties.
UPDATED DIGITAL DATABASE
Furthermore, the AGSA report highlighted with concern that not all beneficiaries who received grants were actually listed on SASSA’s digital system. In turn, this raised questions about the completeness/validity of its database. However, Matlou says SASSA has since launched a digitisation project to deal with incomplete or missing beneficiary records.
The problem often arises from queue pressure at local offices. At the end of the day, the back-office doesn’t always capture all applications on the system. So, the agency has started scanning all active manual files and uploading them digitally. 67% of active files have already been scanned, with the remaining 33% expected to be completed within the year.
WHAT WOULD YOU DO ABOUT SASSA GRANT FRAUD?
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