Question NW5 to the Minister of Social Development
12 March 2024 - NW5
Herron, Mr BN to ask the Minister of Social Development
(1)With reference to her reply to question 4207 on 2 January 2024, what (a) total amount is owed to the State as a result of unrecovered grants from the SA Social Security Agency (SASSA) paid to beneficiaries who were deceased at the time of the payment and (b) portion of the specified amount has SASSA found to still be recoverable; (2) whether she has found that SASSA and/or her department will be able to identify, what (a) total amount and/or (b) portion of the specified amount referred to is being held in the private bank accounts of deceased beneficiaries; if not, what is the position in each case; if so, what are the relevant details in each case; (3) as SASSA is a registered creditor of the deceased estate, what total amount is recoverable in cases where the (a) estate has been reported to the Master of the High Court and (b) grant payment of the deceased beneficiary had been accessed by using the SASSA-issued card; (4) whether she has found that SASSA and/or her department will be able to, without being a creditor to a deceased estate, recover grant payments paid to deceased beneficiaries via SASSA cards; if not, what steps will be taken to recover such funding; if so, in what way?
Reply:
(1) (a) Information provided to Question 4207, was for grant overpayments to Post Bank clients. Over the last three years grant overpayments to deceased Post Bank clients were as follows:
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- 2021/2022 = R59 256 000
- 2022/2023 = R50 372 000
- 2023/2024 = R31 928 000
SASSA does not have data on other Banks readily available to provide statistics as requested above. A special script is required to extract the required data; which takes time to develop, execute and analyse for accuracy and to ensure this part of the question is responded to adequately.
(b) Considering that the above-mentioned grant overpayments were made to the most vulnerable members of society, SASSA’s ability to recover debt might be expensive than the debt itself. However, I must point out that each debt, irrespective of the amount, remains “recoverable “until it is s written off.
There are a number of questions and factors that can be considered when dealing with deceased grant beneficiaries to whom a grant was paid before SASSA received a notice of death from Home Affairs:
- Would it be economical to invest all the resources required to recoup a debt for one-month payment made to a deceased grant beneficiary?
- Does the deceased have an estate or the value of the estate is so small to claim against such that the full value of the grant may not be recovered?
- Would recovery cause undue hardship to his or her dependents?
(2) (a) and (b) Information on private bank accounts, such as balances within those accounts, is confidential information, to which SASSA dos not have access.
(3) (a) SASSA is not currently a registered creditor to any deceased estate. There is currently no system interface between SASSA and the Office of the Master of the High Court. When death occurs, the majority of Social Grant beneficiaries’ families make no effort to wind up an estate with the Office of the Master of the High Court (estates between R125,000 and R250,000) or with the Magistrates Office (estates below R125,000) as required by law. Therefore, if no “case file” is created no-one can register as a Creditor.
(b) All debts are considered “recoverable”, until National Treasury approves the write off. Hence the full amount referenced above is considered recoverable until this process is completed.
(4) It’s important to note that for the SASSA cards, funds are paid into a bank account at Postbank, which is governed by the same laws as any other bank account. SASSA with the assistance of National Treasury is investigating the possibility of all banks to return balances remaining in social grant beneficiary’s bank as a result of grants not withdrawn back to government. The technicalities and implications of this proposal are still under discussion.