Question NW1279 to the Minister of Social Development
18 April 2022 - NW1279
Gondwe, Dr M to ask the Minister of Social Development
With reference to the 177 108 public servants who were found to have received social grants, excluding the Social Relief of Distress grant, what (a) number of the specified public servants have been found (i) to have qualified for the grants that they received and (ii) not to have qualified for the grants that they received, (b) amount of money has been recovered from public servants who have been found not to have qualified for the grants that they received and (c) have been the consequences for the public servants who have been determined not to have qualified for the grant that they received as at the latest specified date for which information is available?
Reply:
a) In total 165 297 public servants were found to have received social grants. These were suspended in September 2021, because it was suspected they did not qualify for the grant they had been receiving. All 165 297 cases were then subjected to a full review process, as required in terms of the Social Assistance Act. Progress with the review process is as follows:
(i) 63 212 have been found to qualify for the grant after they completed the review process.
(ii) 3 268 have been found not to qualify for the grant after they completed the review process.
The grant review process is not yet finalised and 98 817 beneficiaries are still to be reviewed.
The process to determine eligibility is an intensive manual process. The teams are still engaging the public servants as they come forward to complete the review process. All those found to have received a grant to which they were not entitled will repay the amount, and also face disciplinary action through their respective departments.
b) An amount of twelve million six hundred thousand rand (R 12, 6 million) has been recovered from public servants who have been found not to qualify for the grant that they received.
c) In following consequence management procedures due processes must be followed. The affected public servants have completed debt acknowledgement forms to enable SASSA to recover the debt. This information has been shared with each Province and affected government departments for them to be able to take appropriate action. To date, SASSA has not receive any reports of the outcomes of these processes.