SASSA latest: R700 million outstanding R350 grants yet to be paid

Social Development Minister, Lindiwe Zulu has confirmed that the SASSA has R700 million that is yet to be paid to beneficiaries.

Zulu held a briefing in Pretoria on Friday to give an update on the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent alert Level 4 lockdown imposed in terms of the Disaster Management Act.

R700 MILLION OUTSTANDING GRANTS

During the briefing, Zulu said the delays were caused by the verification processes of applications in order to prevent fraud and corruption.

“It is very unfortunate that we have over R700 million that’s still outstanding to be paid to our people.

“In many instances we have to keep on verifying whether people are really complying or compliant in terms of their applications and whether people were really out of jobs. Checking whether people deserve the money or not is a bit of a tedious situation but a necessary one.”

SASSA INVESTIGATING R350 GRANT FRAUD

SASSA CEO Busisiwe Memela said they are investigating about 241 public servants, 105 inmates as well as several foreign nationals for fraudulently applying and receiving the R350 government grant during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown period.

READ: Confirmed: Here are the official SASSA payment dates for July 2021

“We are working with the fusion centre, which is a body that comprises the Financial Intelligence Centre, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), State Security Agency, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) as well as the South African Police Services (SAPS).

“The fusion centre is looking at all the different categories of fraudulent transactions that happened at the start of the pandemic. This is to make sure that due process is continued in terms of making sure that those people are punished. In terms of the people who received the money we need to get the money back.”

SASSA reportedly lost R11 million between April and June in 2020 when the relief grant was introduced to South Africans.