THE Democratic Alliance (DA) has raised concerns about the alleged millions lost by the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) in the past two years.
According to DA Member of Parliament Bridget Masango, the agency has lost more than R50 million to fraud and corruption in the past two and a half years.
She said this involves more than 700 cases and 40 Sassa officials.
A “system glitch” in September 2023 left more than 600 000 beneficiaries stranded without payments. In January this year, another 150 000 beneficiaries did not receive their payments due to another “glitch”, as Sassa could not “verify” their banking details.
“Sassa has paid more than R141 million to 75 000 deceased recipients in the past three years. 5 812 SRD grants and 33 883 other social grants were paid to fraudster civil servants during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020,” Masango said.
She said that SRD grant recipients were defrauded of their ID numbers and personal information, which Sassa cannot resolve despite numerous complaints.
“In stark contrast to the ANC government, the DA has a plan to protect social grants."
ALSO READ: Woman's body found in cemetery
Meanwhile, Masango also raised concerns over the extension of Busisiwe Memela-Khambule as chief executive of Sassa.
Khambule’s contract extension was announced by the Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, during a media briefing last month.
This was an agreement made during a Cabinet Lekgotla held on 28 February.
Masango said Memela-Khambule is being implicated in a damning Special Investigating Unit (SIU) report in 2021.
Memela-Khambule is implicated in corruption allegations involving an R45 million tender to distribute 33 000 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) food parcels in the Eastern Cape during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Memela-Khambule is accused of violating the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) by manipulating the tender for preferred bidders.
"She is accused of explicitly going against National Treasury procurement processes to ensure that overpriced and unqualified service providers were contracted, which saw Sassa pay more than necessary to purchase and distribute parcels, with less parcels distributed to beneficiaries,” she said.
