Question NW1785 to the Minister of Social Development

Reply:

(1) a. The total number of foreigners (refugees) receiving social grants as at July 2021 is 13 472.

(1) b. Table 1 shows the number of social grants by grant type per province.

Table 1: Number of social grants per province

Province	Care Dependency Grant	Child Support Grant	Disability Grant	Foster Child Grant	Grant-In-Aid	Old Age Grant	War Veterans Grant	Total
Eastern Cape	23,417	1,972,830	178,386	74,893	34,024	593,929	8	2,877,487
Free State	8,787	711,619	78,067	24,569	10,576	212,589		1,046,207
Gauteng	20,916	2,000,812	120,845	41,371	10,424	678,524	9	2,872,901
Kwazulu Natal	39,044	2,969,151	223,704	63,210	79,759	732,988	4	4,107,860
Limpopo	16,627	1,963,506	99,816	40,437	54,687	489,613	2	2,664,688
Mpumalanga	11,335	1,165,489	76,726	22,693	23,237	267,023		1,566,503
North West	9,803	903,493	64,815	26,691	17,228	277,606	1	1,299,637
Northern Cape	5,787	328,070	50,819	10,570	18,975	92,971	1	507,193
Western Cape	16,280	1,052,251	150,624	32,209	24,110	379,526	9	1,655,009
Total	151,996	13,067,221	1,043,802	336,643	273,020	3,724,769	34	18,597,485

(2) It is important to note that applicants for all social grants, except for the Foster Child Grant are means tested. In addition, SASSA checks all the applicants of social grants against the government payroll databases (Persal and Persol) in order to ensure that government employees do not unduly benefit from social grants. The fact that a government employee is benefitting from a social grant is not necessarily an indicator of fraud, as some of the lower level staff may still meet the means test thresholds.

Access to other databases that have been brought into the SASSA environment will also assist SASSA in further refining the validations processes, to ensure that the information provided by applicants on application is checked before the grant is approved. This will assist in reducing errors of inclusion.

(2) i. The total number of Social Development officials receiving social grants is 3400. Table 2 shows the breakdown by department and grant type.

Table 2: Number of DSD official receiving social grants per province

DEPARTMENT	Care Dependency Grant	Com	Child Support Grant	Disability Grant	Foster Child Grant	Old Age Grant	TOTAL
VOTE 04 - EC: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT	18	2	103	4	91		218
VOTE 06 - GP: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT	6	1	230	7	34	1	279
VOTE 07 - FS: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT	7		91	2	31	1	132
VOTE 07 - WC: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT	9	1	45	4	17		76
VOTE 11 - NC: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT	3		41	1	13		58
VOTE 12 - LP: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT	8		158	6	27	4	203
VOTE 12 - MP: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT	5		42	1	31		79
VOTE 12 - NW: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT	6		59	2	30		97
VOTE 13 - KZN: SOCIAL DEVELOPMNT	51	2	1876	101	132	79	2241
VOTE 19 - NAT: SOCIAL DEVELOPMNT	2		12	1	2		17
TOTAL	115	6	2657	129	408	85	3400

(2) ii. Table 3 shows that 153 SASSA employees are receiving social grants as at July 2021.

Table 3: Number of SASSA officials receiving social grants per province

PROVINCE	CARE DEPENDENCY GRANT	COM.	CHILD SUPPORT	DISABILITY GRANT	FOSTER CHILD GRANT	TOTAL
EASTERN CAPE	5		5		33	43
FREE STATE	3		1		6	10
GAUTENG	3		2		5	10
HEAD OFFICE			5		1	6
KWAZULU-NATAL	10		2	1	11	24
LIMPOPO	6		4		3	13
MPUMALANGA	3		1		9	13
NORTH WEST	2				7	9
NORTHERN CAPE	3	4	1		4	12
WESTERN CAPE	2		3	1	7	13
TOTAL	37	4	24	2	86	153

All social grants received by SASSA employees, except for the foster child grant and the combination grants (which is a combination of foster child grants and care dependency grants, in which case both are not means tested) have been suspended with immediate effect in accordance with Regulation 29(1)(a) of the Social Assistance Act, which allows for suspension without prior notice, in cases of suspected fraud or misrepresentation.

Processes are now underway to determine the amount paid which should not have been paid, as well as the date from which these employees started being employed by SASSA, to determine the amount to be recovered. In addition, documents are being prepared for disciplinary processes to be implemented.

As a preventive measure, all Socpen data will be checked against the SASSA salary system on a monthly basis prior to the payment extraction.

(2) ii. Table 4 shows that as at July 2021, 177108 social grants were received by employees of national and provincial government departments.

NATIONAL/PROVINCIAL DEPARTMENT	Care Dependency Grant	Com	Child Support Grant	Disability Grant	Foster Child Grant	Old Age Grant	TOTAL
EASTERN CAPE	413	47	8570	435	2063	595	12123
FREE STATE	116	8	2916	114	529	144	3827
GAUTENG	537	15	20136	460	901	221	22270
KWAZULU/NATAL	1717	74	61384	3321	3414	8449	78359
LIMPOPO PROVINCE	267	10	8577	186	826	466	10332
MPUMALANGA	224	4	7744	302	617	512	9403
NATIONAL DEPARTMENTS	630	22	10113	372	1605	522	13264
NON GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS			14	1	2		17
NORTH WEST	416	25	17074	579	846	246	19186
NORTHERN CAPE	127	14	3474	217	313	228	4373
WESTERN CAPE	192	3	3079	111	473	96	3954
TOTAL	4639	222	143081	6098	11589	11479	177108

Table 4: Number of National and Provincial government employees receiving social grants per province