Question NW538 to the Minister of Social Development
18 March 2024 - NW538
Arries, Ms LH to ask the Minister of Social Development
What (a) security measures have been put in place to ensure that the Social Relief of Distress grant system is safe and not compromised by fraudulent persons and (b) are the relevant details in this regard?
Reply:
(a) As the Honourable Member is aware, the Special COVID-19 SRD Grant is a wholly digital and this exposes it to cybercrimes. To address this, SASSA has developed robust ICT capabilities to detect fraud and related activities. SASSA’s cyber-crime prevention and detection capacities include interfaces with other government departments and entities, including the Department of Home Affairs (National Population Register), PERSAL and the Government Employee Pension Fund (GEPF), SARS, Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) amongst others.
(b) Additional fraud detection and prevention measures include interfaces with banks who rely on the Financial Intelligence Centre for verification purposes. SASSA also uses the data of the South African Fraud Prevention Services (SAFPS) to stay abreast of those that have been identified as perpetrators of fraud or victims of fraud. These efforts strengthen SASSA’s ability to validate grant applications.