Social Development Portfolio Audit Outcome; DSD&SASSA 2022/23 Annual Reports; with Ministry

Meeting report

Opening Remarks

The Chairperson officially opened the meeting and asked that the agenda be followed as proposed.

Apologies noted were from Ms M Sukers (ACDP), who had medical issues and Ms K Bilankulu (ANC), who was bereaved.

Ms J Manganye (ANC) moved to adopt the agenda and was seconded by Ms A Hlongo (ANC).

AGSA 2022/23 Budgetary Review and Recommendations Report (BRRR)

Ms Nozipho Nekhofhe, Acting Deputy Business Unit Leader, AGSA, opened the presentation, and introduced Mr Faizel Jogee, Senior Manager: Social Development Portfolio, AGSA, who led the presentation.

The Committee was taken through the 2021/22 financial year recommendations and their progress, which the AGSA said were all underway and in progress. The AGSA said there had been great improvement in consequence management and a great reduction in irregular expenditure. There has also been improvement in the current financial year from the Department of Social Development (DSD) and the National Development Agency (NDA), where their statuses moved from an unqualified opinion with findings, in the previous financial year to unqualified without findings in the current financial year.

The overall portfolio performance displayed improvement, with the Department’s submission by 31 May 2023 showing no material adjustments, whereas the South African Social Services Agency (SASSA) and the NDA encountered some issues that were duly resolved. SASSA did not meet just one indicator which was the actual achievement reported for the percentage of enquiries resolved within stipulated timeframes differed from the supporting evidence provided for audit, with the result that the accuracy of the reported achievement for that indicator could not be confirmed, which led to a finding in SASSA’s audit.

Mr Jogee further presented the following aspects:

• Performance against targets
• Summarised information from the performance report
• Key insights on service delivery – 97.5% of the budget had been spent on social grants, with a R6 billion saving on the financial report. There was an underspending of R4bn billion due to the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant whose number of beneficiaries decreased due to factors such as lower income threshold or beneficiary income verification.
• Material irregularities and their resolution status
• Quality of financial reporting
• Financial Health
• Compliance with key legislation
• Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) compliance and reporting framework
• Portfolio Committee message

(see attached for full presentation)

Discussion

Ms L van der Merwe (IFP) expressed concern over the repeated findings by the AGSA on a yearly basis, across various portfolio committees. How long would the issue of SASSA paying ineligible beneficiaries persist, seeing as it was a problem even in prior years? What was done to improve payment systems?

Ms van der Merwe asked about the progress on the consequence management process of the official and service provider who had received payments of R74 million and R316 million in 2021 – were there any steps taken to date?

What was the prospect of recovering the remaining amount out of the R300 million that was paid to ineligible R350 grant recipients?

Ms van der Merwe’s last question was regarding taxpayers’ money impact on the livelihoods of South Africans – could this be highlighted in future reports?

Ms B Masango (DA) asked for clarity regarding the R350 grant recovery – was the recovery process taking note of those who had previously been wrongfully paid and stopping future payments, or was any money recovered from culprits?

Ms Masango questioned the Post Bank’s agreement clarity. She also asked about the issue of recurring leases and when and how this was going to be resolved or concluded. Her last question was about what had changed the compliance reporting framework.

Ms A Abrahams (DA) questioned the effectiveness of the AGSA’s enforcement powers if there was a repetition in findings every year. What was the point of consequence management if entities such as the Hawks and the South African Police Services (SAPS) could not assist in the recovery of funds, amongst other consequence tactics?

Ms Abrahams asked if a “blacklisting” system was in place to highlight officials who were under investigation to prevent them from infiltrating other sectors of government and furthering their criminal activity. What was the agreed-upon amount between SASSA and Post Bank?

Mr D Stock (ANC) asked about the resolution between the Post Bank and SASSA – how would they maintain coherence to ensure that all beneficiaries are paid on time? What process has been used to determine grant benefit eligibility, considering there had been an issue of ineligible beneficiaries receiving payment?

Ms P Marais (EFF) stated that the Department did not have adequate capacity to carry out its duties and stated that the issue of vacant positions affected service delivery. How was R6 million sent back to National Treasury in a country where citizens lived in abject poverty and needed social assistance? Why was there underspending on the foster grants – people were receiving top-ups instead of total amounts, which negatively affected their livelihoods.

Ms Marais opposed the findings on the distribution of food parcels, stating that food parcels were only distributed around election times, and not regularly. Ms Marais’ last question was on the use of the Social Services budget on disaster management in KZN when a disaster management fund had been allocated by National Treasury – why was this?

Ms L Arries (EFF) expressed concern over the lack of response or appeal processes to rejected grant applications – this proved the ineffectiveness of systems. She asked about generators to curb the lack of production because of load shedding. Were there any policies or programmes in place for the treatment and prevention of substance abuse? Were implicated parties in the R50 million fraud case suspended?

Ms J Manganye (ANC) enquired about the leasing issue – how was it to be resolved, seeing as it was a growing expense? When would the fraud management issue be resolved or concluded, seeing as it is always in progress?

Responses

Mr Jogee responded to the Committee’s questions. He said SASSA and the DSD had to work collaboratively to identify and resolve the recurring issues, especially because they were regarding grants. There had been improvements in the new onboarding of grant beneficiaries, so the current system was effective, and recurring issues could be attributed to the system used in the past.

The Department and SASSA had to implement effective verification processes to ensure existing beneficiaries were still alive and legible to avoid fraudulent activity.

Fraudulent officials were suspended from the SASSA environment, and disciplinary processes were underway.

Not all targets were included in the performance reports, however there were results of the impact, spending had on social development programs against issues such as Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and substance abuse.

No physical cash was recovered from ineligible beneficiaries, but pursuing legal options would cost more than the money lost, so this issue would not be pursued.

Public Works was to blame for the delay in leasing paperwork for SASSA.

AGSA did follow up on consequence management processes and was more concerned about outcomes and adherence to these than the process itself.

The Hawks and SAPS had investigated the case in question, however after analysis, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) decided not to prosecute as the case would not yield much success.

The only way investigations would yield successful results would be if they were conducted in a timely manner.

The accrual amount between Postbank and SASSA amounted to over R575 million. Mr Jogee said he would send actual values to the Committee after the meeting.

Food parcels had not been given out, but food vouchers were, as part of disaster relief.

The Chairperson thanked AGSA and excused it from the meeting. The Department was invited to make its presentation, starting with the Minister’s opening remarks.

DSD Annual Performance Report 2022/2023

The Minister of Social Development, Ms Lindiwe Zulu, DSD, made her opening remarks, and introduced her delegation, which consisted of several Department stakeholders including Mr Linton Mchunu, Acting Director-General, DSD, who led the presentation.

The presentation reported that the 2022/23 financial year marked the final-term point of the Sixth Administration of our democratic government. This Annual Report reflects the challenges and achievements of the DSD in fulfilment of the commitments of the Sixth Administration. The DSD Portfolio was able to positively impact the lives of the poor and vulnerable individuals and communities through various interventions, some of which include:

Social Assistance 

-Strengthened efforts to expand our services to people with disabilities, victims of gender-based violence (GBV), the elderly and those affected by COVID-19. DSD efforts have seen an increase in the number of Social Grants Beneficiaries from 18.6 million in the 2021/22 financial year to 18.8 million. The number of Social Relief of Distress Grant Beneficiaries increased to almost 11 million beneficiaries.

Gender-Based Violence Command Centre

-Through improved Gender-Based Violence Command Centre (GBVCC), DSD continued to provide immediate psychosocial care and support services to the victims of gender-based violence and femicide.

-The Department has successfully implemented the enhancement of response services in the thirty (30) National Gender Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) hotspots with 100 GBVF ambassadors and fifty (50) Social Workers deployed to provide.

-Psychosocial Support Services (PSS) in the hotspot areas across the country. Over 53 000 victims of GBV and Femicide were reached.

- DSD, as a lead department in the implementation of Pillar 4 (Response Care Support and Healing), has developed, consulted and approved two policies (Intersectoral Shelter Policy and Policy on provision of Psychosocial Services

Non-Profit Organisations

-The DSD continued to register and monitor NPOs in terms of the Non-Profit Organisation Act, 1997 (Act No 71 of 1997).

-The Department continues to register and monitor compliance of NPOs in line with the NPO Act. A total of 28 306 applications were received and processed 28 061 and 98.6% (27 898) of received applications were processed within two months.

-Through provincial departments, we continued to provide funding to NPOs, of which a larger proportion provide social services.

Expanded Public Works Programme

-DSD continued to lead implementation of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) for the sector.

-Against the rise in unemployment rate, the sector created 236 875 temporary employment opportunities.

-Through EPWP, temporary employment opportunities were provided to the marginalised and underprivileged communities

Food and Nutrition Security Programme

-The devastating impact of floods in provinces such as KwaZulu-Natal called for immediate and emergency relief to provide food to vulnerable individuals and households. The Food and Nutrition Security Programme contributes to the goal of improving access to diverse and affordable food.

-These interventions are part of the targeted outcome to reduce levels of poverty, inequality, vulnerability and social ills.

-Food Safety and Quality Assurance (FSQA) was initiated to mitigate the risk of contamination and food poisoning in the handling, preparation and food service within the provincial DSD food centres.

Audit outcome

-Overall, DSD received an unqualified audit outcome with no findings on performance information. This is an improvement audit outcome as compared to the qualified audit outcome received during 2021/22.

-The financial statements did not have any material findings raised. Attainment of the financial statements free from material misstatement is a commendable achievement given the management of DSD budget allocation of almost R247 billion.    

-The AGSA highlighted some serious concerns around management of the following areas:

• Lack of proper daily and monthly monitoring controls
• Lack of reconciling of transactions on a regular basis
• Lack of effective leadership based on ethical business practices within SCM

Management has since developed a clear strategy and action plan to address findings raised by AGSA during the 2022/23 financial year to ensure that we address the root causes and instil strong preventative controls whilst also resolving all repeat findings;

-Maintaining sound organisational and business practices is an integral part of promoting accountability and efficiency in the Department.

-DSD continues to implement a number of initiatives to maintain the highest standards of governance in the management of public finances.

-Part of the corrective measures is ensuring adequate consequence management is implemented accordingly.

It was reported the DSD achieved 57 of 67 targets for the year under review – this was performance of 85%.

Unmet targets

Programme 1: Administration

Human Capital Management

• Government-Wide Strategy on the Employment of Social Service Professionals was not submitted to Cabinet. The Strategy was presented to the Technical Working Group for Social Protection
• Government-Wide Strategy on the Employment of Social Service Professionals was not submitted to Cabinet. The Strategy was presented to the Technical Working Group for Social Protection. Further, Treasury wanted to come and give some on the funding model of the Strategy.

Legal Services 

• SASSA Amendment Bill was not submitted to Cabinet. The Bill is still being considered for a preliminary opinion by the Office of the Chief State Law Adviser.
• This is due to external dependencies as the Bill must first have a preliminary certification with legality and constitutionality before Cabinet can approve it.
• Victim Support Services Bill was not submitted to Cabinet. The Bill is still being considered at NEDLAC before it can be submitted to Cabinet
• Delay at finalising the consultation at NEDLAC
• Target not achieved. NPO Amendment Bill withdrawn due to promulgation of the General Laws Amendment Act, 2022 which rendered the NPO Bill obsolete
• Bill has been withdrawn and substituted for the General Laws Amendment Act which has necessitated the Department to develop Regulations to take the place of the NPO Bill

Programme 3: Social Security Policy and Administration

The annual target to adjudicate 70% of appeals within 90 days of receipt was not achieved. 57.34% of appeals (2 763 of 4 819) were adjudicated within 90 days of receipt. Significant increase in the number of appeals following the amendment of the Social Assistance Act which allows direct access to lodge appeals with the Independent Tribunal and delays in the finalisation of appointment processes of new Tribunal Members to serve on the Independent Tribunal.

To mitigate the risk associated with creating a possible backlog and the litigation risk associated therewith, the Independent Tribunal reviewed its business strategy, which resulted in new workflow processes and redesigned adjudication forms. These changes ensured that the Tribunal was able to adjudicate and finalise 81.94% (4 819 of 5 881) of appeals received during the Financial Year. The remaining balance of appeals was received mostly during the latter part of the 4th quarter and are accordingly still within the 90 day period. Further thereto, the appointment process of the newly enlisted legal and medical practitioners to serve on the Independent Tribunal has been finalised and following the completion of the induction processes, will be able to assist the Tribunal with the timeous adjudication of appeals received.

Programme 4: Welfare Services Policy Development and Implementation Support

Children’s Services:

The annual target to monitor the implementation of the programme of action on foster care in provinces was not achieved due to insufficient portfolio of evidence (provincial reports) to support the reported performance.

Children’s Legislation and Families:

The annual target to consolidate the annual monitoring report on the DSD implementation of ISHP Plan to curb teenage pregnancy was not achieved due to insufficient portfolio of evidence (Provincial reports) to support the reported performance.

Social Crime Prevention and Anti-Substance Abuse:

The annual target to submit draft Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Use Disorders Policy to Cabinet for approval to gazette for public comments was not achieved. SEIAS application process was finalised. Draft Policy was re-consulted to address gaps that were raised

Programme 5: Social Security Policy and Administration

Youth Development:

• The annual target to train 600 youth on the skills development programme was not achieved. 326 youth participated in this training and of these (326), 255 completed the full five days training. A total of 71 did not attend for the full five days.

Poverty Alleviation, Sustainable Livelihood and Food Security :

• The annual target to submit the reviewed Sustainable Livelihood Framework to Cabinet for approval was not achieved. The Sustainable Livelihoods Framework was not submitted to Cabinet for approval. The Framework was submitted to MANCO, HSDS TWG and SPCHD.
• This target was not achieved due to external dependencies, however, progress towards achievement is halfway through. It has already been approved by three critical structures, i.e. amongst others MANCO, HSDS, and Technical Working group. It is prioritised for the next financial year 2023/24.

see presentation attached for further performance per programme and financial performance

Progress on 2022/23 Budgetary Review and Recommendations Report (BRRR)

• Following the presentation of the 2022/23 Annual Reports, the Portfolio Committee made recommendations to the Minister of Social Development through the BRRR for the DSD, SASSA and NDA for implementation.
• There is one cross-cutting recommendation for the portfolio to address AGSA audit outcomes and to report on the progress including the financial misconduct cases and consequence management.
• There are two recommendations for DSD and NDA to fill the vacant positions of DG, DDGs, NDA CEO, NDA board appointment and amongst other posts within the DSD. 
• There were recommendations, which includes, among others, DSD to empower provinces for parliamentary responsibilities, conduct impact analysis, performance system, employment of Social Service Professionals, engage with organs of state supplying SASSA with databases, fraud and corruption in the administration and payment of social grants.    
• Implementation of these recommendations by the Social Development Portfolio is at varying levels.
• A detailed progress report on these recommendations has been submitted as an Annexure to this presentation.
• The DSD Portfolio has made good progress from the 2020/2021 BRRR and will continue to implement the 2022/2023 BRRR through APPs and the operational plans and report progress.

See attached for full presentation

Discussion

Ms Manganye questioned the Department’s progress recording methods in relation to programs aimed at improving the lives of citizens. She asked whether the DSD worked collaboratively with other departments, and asked about the selection process when determining which provinces to establish programmes in. What delayed consequence management within Departments?

Ms Marais asked why foster care beneficiaries only received top-up amounts instead of actual grants. What was being done to solve the issue of vacancies, and what qualified Mr Mchunu to be Acting Director-General, and even have his contract extended?

Ms Marais further asked about the funding of non-profit organisations – why had their funding been cut? How many rehabilitation centres had the Department built? How did the youth development and training programs help combat unemployment? What were the criteria for receiving the R350 grant?

Ms Masango asked for clarity on the Department's responsibility regarding the disbursement of grants to recipients – was the Department not responsible for funds until they reached the hands of beneficiaries? The lack of attendance to appeals negatively affected the livelihood of citizens.

Ms Abrahams stated that the DSD’s website needed maintenance and updating for better access to documentation by stakeholders. She asked for clarity on the value amounts of differences, and, lastly questioned the cause of the spike in employee compensation.

Mr Stock questioned the new electronic systems and their effectiveness in carrying out the duties of the Department. What was the consequence for provinces that continuously failed to account? What was being done to resolve the issue of social assistance appeals? What was the timeframe for the commencement of the tribunal members’ duties?

Responses

Mr Mchunu, along with the other Department delegates, responded to the various questions asked by Committee Members. He responded to the question regarding his qualifications by simply stating that the question was not within the scope of what was currently being discussed.

Mr Mchunu insisted that the Department and SASSA had paid social grant beneficiaries on time. Any delays had been at grant collection points. The amount paid for grants increased from R221 billion in 2021/22 to R239 billion in 2022/23.

Ms Busisiwe Memela-Khambula, Chief Executive Officer, SASSA, acknowledged that the Agency had had several public challenges including continuous loadshedding at branches, “persistent budget cuts” and Postbank’s technical glitches which had all hampered service. She said the number of social grants paid increased from about 18.7 million in March 2022 to about 18.9 million in March 2023, at a cost of R202 billion. She added that an average of 8.5 million people were being paid the R350 SRD grant monthly which cost the state more than R30 billion in 2022/23.

“Overall, SASSA pays more than 27.3 million beneficiaries monthly. This implies that about 45% of the population depend on these transfers.”

SASSA 2022/23 Annual Report Presentation

SASSA’s core business is to provide social assistance to eligible South Africans who are unable to support themselves and their dependents with the goal of alleviating poverty.

SASSA’s operations are affected by a number of variables, including high levels of poverty, unemployment, and disasters.

Unemployment rate in the country stood at 32.9% at the end of the first quarter of 2023 (31 March 2023) thus increasing the demand for SASSA services. This represents an increase of 0.2% compared to the fourth quarter of 2022.

Natural disasters continue to affect various parts of the country and SASSA services are spread to such areas to lessen the impact and ensure citizens have access to basic needs. During this reporting, most of the regions were affected by disasters and KZN, EC and WC were among the worst affected. SASSA had to provide social relief of distress to affected families.

Other challenges impacting on SASSA business include:

• Continuous electricity load shedding.
• Persistent reduction of budgets.
• Postbank technical challenges – impacted some beneficiaries who are using SASSA payment card

Despite all these challenges, SASSA continued to implement its constitutional mandate of managing, administering, and paying for social assistance.

The number of social grants in payment increased from 18 677 339 at the end of March 2022 to 18 829 716 at the end of March 2023 at a cost of. This represents a growth of approximately 0.82%.

In addition, an average of 8.5 million COVID-19 SRD grant beneficiaries was paid monthly. Eventually, The COVID-19 SRD grant expenditure for the 2022/23 financial year stood at R30.2 billion

Overall, SASSA pays more than 27.3 million beneficiaries monthly. This implication is that about 45% of the population was dependent on social transfers.

For the year under review, SASSA achieved 26 of 34 targets = 76% performance – an improvement from the two previous financial years. See attached for detailed performance per programme

Targets not achieved

85% (167 of 197) of financial misconduct cases (backlog) finalised against a target of 95%.

Reasons for non-achievement: Delays in the investigation, resolution, and implementation of disciplinary corrective measures due to the complexity of some cases.

13 of 18 local offices were improved, focussing on dignity services, physical accessibility,  branding and network connectivity.

Reasons for non-achievement:

• Poor performance by a service provider, leading to the termination of contract with the service provider (EC);
• There were delays in the finalisation of tenant installations (MP);
• Delay by landlords in the signing of SLA to grant permission for the renovations (NC and NW);
• Cancellation of bids due to non-compliance thereby resulting in a re-advertisement of the tender (NW).

BPR: Reviewed business processes approved. Operating model, draft Macro Organisational structure, Delegation of Authority, Business Process costing and SOPs were finalised. BPR Blueprint could not be finalised.

Reason for non-achievement: Consultation process for some key BPR project activities took longer, as a result affecting timelines for the development of the draft organisational structures.

Development of organisational structures based on BPR – draft Operating Model and options were developed, however approval was pending at the end of the reporting period.

Reason for non-achievement: Consultation process for some key BPR project activities took longer as a result affecting timelines for the development of the draft organisational structures.

89% (1 640 499 of 1 840 623) of new grant applications taken through face-to-face interaction were processed within five days against a target of 95%.

Reason for non-achievement: Accumulation of manual applications due to load-shedding and negative impacts on network availability.

A customer satisfaction survey was conducted in nine provinces. However, service delivery improvement plan was not completed.

Reason for non-achievement: The target was affected by the review/revision of the project plan, resulting in the delay in the completion of the project milestones.

37 416 of 191 200 Applications for the extended CSG (CSG Top-Up) were in payment.

Reason for non-achievement: Regulations were promulgated late in the 1st quarter of the financial year. This impacted the marketing of the grant resulting in the low take-up rate.

Biometric solution implemented in 4 local offices as per SNBF resolution.

Reason for non-achievement: There was no service provider for support and maintenance of the beneficiary biometric system due to non-responsive bids (three attempts), hence implementation failed.

Highlights on budget and expenditure for the period under review

• SASSA continued with administering and paying the Special SRD R350 Grant.
• Unlike in the 2021/22 financial year, when SASSA received R500 million additional funding during the budget adjustment process for administrative costs towards implementing the Special SRD R350 Grant, there was no additional funding in the 2022/23 financial year. SASSA reprioritised its budget to fund the cost of administering the grant.
• In addition to the appropriation from the National Revenue Fund, SASSA obtained approval from National Treasury to retain a portion of the cash surplus from 2021/22 amounting to R755,8 million. The retained cash surplus was allocated to augment the allocation for SRD R350 admin costs, i.e. service fees and bank charges, fleet, ICT equipment, and relocation of the records management centres.
• While expenditure on compensation for employees reached 99%, there was 8% and 12% underspending on goods and services as well as transfers, respectively.
• The digital workspace (remote work and online meetings) became the “new normal” and thus also impacting expenditure.
• The budget for the period under review was adjusted downwards by an amount of R83,710 million as a result of  SASSA taking over a toll-free line from the Department of Social Development which was previously paid for by the Department. The Department made a request to have the expenditure they incurred 2022/23 reimbursed. National Treasury adjusted SASSA's budget accordingly.
• Expenditure on social assistance fees (cash handling/service fees)  is influenced by the payment channel beneficiaries utilise to receive their social benefits. In this regard, the majority of the beneficiaries opted to use the National Payment System comprising of banks auto teller machines (ATMs) and merchants’ point of sale (POS). These are the least costly payment channels compared to cash pay points and over-the-counter payment channels. Thus the underspending on this budget item and thus on goods and services.
• The Agency sought to procure the services of debt collectors to deal with its debt book, but however, the procurement process could not be concluded as planned, which contributed to the underspending on the budget for goods and services, as the funds were not spent.
• Since the in sourcing of fraud investigations, cost efficiencies were realised, as the earmarked allocation for fraud investigations was not fully utilised. Expenditure on medical assessments reached 96% as projected assessments and/or doctors’ claims were less than projected.
• Procurement of a new Records Management Centre contract was not finalised due to non-responsive bids and this led to under spending on outsourced services within goods and services.
• The cost of utilisation of fleet was lower than expected due to efficiencies. The main cost driver on fleet is fuel.
• Expenditure on travel reached 76% mainly because travel was minimised by virtual meetings instead of convening physical meetings.

2022/23 audit outcome

Unqualified audit opinion was received for the year ended 31 March 2023.

Performance Information

• Material finding was identified by AGSA as far as beneficiary administration target re: “percentage of enquiries resolved within stipulated timeframe” is concerned
• An achievement of 98.25% was reported against a target of 90% but it was found that some of the supporting evidence could not be provided for auditing resulting in material differences between the actual and reported achievements.
• Management could not correct the population because of the high volume of the enquiries received through emails and letters, and inability of the system to capture the actual date the enquiry was received but only the capture/ log date.
• Therefore the system is being re-configured to enable capturing of the actual receipt date for the 2023/24 financial year.

Adjustment of material misstatements

• AGSA identified no material misstatements in the financial statements submitted for auditing.
• SASSA developed Audit Action Plan to address the identified factual findings.

See attached for full presentation

Discussion

Ms Masango asked for clarity on her question regarding the material irregularity cases of R316 million and R74 million, respectively. Had they been resolved? Had all culprits resigned? What was to be done to Department officials who led to the lapse of the R316 million case? What was being done to ensure the R74 million case would not lapse before being resolved?

Other Committee Members questioned fraud prevention strategies to be adopted by the Department and SASSA.

Mr Tsakeriwa Chauke, General Manager: Finance, SASSA, responded to questions regarding the meeting of targets and the resolution of lease agreement issues. He answered questions about material irregularities and the installation of electronic systems.

This concluded SASSA’s presentation.

The Chairperson thanked the Department and its entities and Committee Members and adjourned the meeting.