Sassa warning: Withdrawing deceased infants’ grants is a crime

The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has issued a stern warning to parents who are active in the fraudulent act of benefitting from social grants of deceased infants.

Sassa: Withdrawing deceased infants’ grants is a crime

The social grants agency revealed that some parents don’t notify the Department of Home Affairs when an infant beneficiary has died. Instead, they continue withdrawing funds from the Sassa grant scheme.

“This fraudulent act happens when the child passes away a few weeks or months after birth. Parents bury the child without informing home affairs,” Sassa Mpumalanga spokesperson Senzeni Ngubeni noted in a statement

Ngubeni added that this is, in fact, a prosecutable crime.

“Parents are warned not to continue with fraudulent activities, profiting on the loss of a child. It is insensitive and also a criminal offence, which will lead to arrest and prosecution by law enforcement institutions,” he said.

Sassa further warned that withdrawing the grant of a deceased beneficiary was a breach of the Social Assistance Act. If the social grants agency is alerted about fraudulent withdrawals on a deceased beneficiary’s account, it has every right to solicit the repayment of the money from those who withdrew it.

How to report a deceased beneficiary.

As reported by the Brakpan Herald, there are a number of ways to deal with Sassa grants that are paid to beneficiaries that are have died before the new monthly payment cycle:

• The Home Affairs population register is linked to Sassa’s SOCPEN database, so when a death is registered at Home Affairs, Sassa will be automatically notified and will cancel the grant;
• if the grant is not stopped after one month, a nominated family member can visit any Sassa local office to cancel it; and
• if the money is not withdrawn for three consecutive months, the grant will automatically be cancelled and the money will be returned to Sassa.

Alternatively, families can contact the Sassa Customer Care Unit on 013 754 9439/9428 or hotline number on 0800 60 10 11 from 08:00 to 16:00 during weekdays.