Question NW160 to the Minister of Social Development
12 March 2024 - NW160
Smalle, Mr JF to ask the Minister of Social Development
(1)With reference to her reply to question 4207 on 2 January 2024, during what period of the month does her department update information received from the Department of Home Affairs; (2) with regard to overpayments made to SA Social Security Agency (SASSA) beneficiaries, what (a) is the total number of beneficiaries who received two and/or more wrongful SASSA grant allocations and (b) was the total monetary value in the (i) 2020-21, (ii) 2021-22, (iii) 2022-23 financial years and (iv) since 1 April 2023?
Reply:
(1) As stated in my reply to Parliamentary Question 4207, SASSA works closely with the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) on data validation and conducts monthly checks to confirm the life status of clients before a payment is generated. Payment is effected for clients who are confirmed to be alive, as per validation outcome.
The life status (proof of life) confirmation is sourced from DHA on the day that the payment file is created. If proof of life is confirmed, payment is included in the payment file and effected for that month. As soon as SASSA receives notice of death from DHA, payment is immediately cancelled and not included in the payment file for that month.
It is important for the Honourable Member to note that social grants payments are effected upon confirmation of proof of life by the Department responsible for this function, which is the DHA. It is incorrect to insinuate that SASSA knowingly pays social grants to deceased beneficiaries.
The activities and the period between payment extraction and payment date can be outlined as below: Using February 2024 payment as example:
- Fourth weekend of the month payment file is extracted (26-28 January 2024) – It must be noted that due to the controls and volumes of the payment file, the payment file is done over a weekend when there is no production work being processed.
- Payment file QA and approval on Monday (29 January 2024).
(2) It will be appreciated if the Honourable can clarify this question because SASSA does not have the data readily available.