Question NW2852 to the Minister of Social Development
31 December 2021 - NW2852
Thembekwayo, Dr S to ask the Minister of Social Development
Which steps has she and/or her department taken to ensure that money is recovered from officials who were arrested by the Hawks for allegedly defrauding her department of money through the irregular awarding of tenders in the (a) Eastern Cape, (b) Gauteng and (c) KwaZulu-Natal?
Reply:
The Honourable Member will appreciate that matters of this nature take time as they involve thorough investigation by law enforcement agencies. In 2014, SASSA, through its internal investigations identified the irregular payment of invoices amounting to R4, 879, 023. 20 in respect of services rendered during the Ministerial Outreach Programme that took place in Engcobo and Nelson Mandela District in the Eastern Cape. SASSA opened a criminal case in terms of Section 300 of Criminal Procedure Act, and this was registered as per East London Crime Administration System (CAS) 145/12/2014.
The services were provisioned by service providers from EC, KwaZulu Natal and Gauteng. When the first leg of arrests of 10 company directors by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations was carried out it included the service providers from KZN and Gauteng. DPCI, through its criminal investigations, estimated the loss at R12 million.
The DPCI has formally informed SASSA that the second leg of arrests will be targeted at SASSA officials as well as members of the public who were involved in defrauding the Agency.
With reference to loss recovery, the Asset Forfeiture unit has started with the recovery process. The process will go in tandem with criminal prosecution.