Question NW2674 to the Minister of Social Development
23 October 2023 - NW2674
Abrahams, Ms ALA to ask the Minister of Social Development
(1)Whether, with regard to whistle blowers who have been reporting corruption taking place at her department and the entities reporting to her, namely the SA Social Security Agency and the National Development Agency, since 2013 up to date, there is an operational anonymous corruption hotline available to the public; if not, why not; if so, what (a) are the toll free numbers of the hotlines, (b) number of reports of corruption relevant to the department and its entities have been reported via hotlines and other government anti-corruption hotlines and (c) number of the reports were confirmed to be true; (2) what (a) action has been taken regarding reported allegations of corruption, (b) number corruption reports has her department received via the whistleblowing function on the non-profit organisation (NPO) website and (c) action has been taken regarding the reports received via the NPO website?
Reply:
1. (a) As guided by national legislation on whistle blowing, the Protected Disclosures Act (Act No. 26 of 2000), the Department and its public entities encourage the public and employees to report all suspected cases of fraud and corruption on available platforms such as the SAPS Crime Stop and the Public Service Commission’s Whistle Blower and Corruption Hotline.
This is to avoid duplication and to ensure suspected cases are reported to relevant law enforcement agencies that have the necessary resources to investigate such cases.
(b) (c)
|
Number of reported cases since 2013 |
Nature of complaint(s) |
|
|
Social Development |
24 |
NPO corruption, poor governance, conflict in the organisation, fraud, and theft/hijacking of the organisation |
|
National Development Agency |
7 |
Civil society organisations not receiving their training certificates |
|
SASSA |
3 262 |
Fraud and corruption involving social grants |
2. (a) reported cases are referred to law enforcement agencies for further investigation and prosecution, where there is enough evidence to do so.
(b) refer to 1 (b) (c)
(c) refer to 2 (a)