Cape Town — The South Africa Social Security Agency (SASSA) has irregularly paid R150 million to now-dead beneficiaries over the last three years.
This was confirmed by Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu, who confirmed there were 74 639 payments were made incorrectly since 2021. These include 32 920 paid in 2021-22, reduced to 26,512 in the following financial year and then 15,204 in the 2023-24 financial year, IOL reported.
Zulu responded to DA MP Jacques Smalle, who asked what systems were in place to ensure that deceased former social grant recipients or card holders did not receive payments after passing.
“There are instances where deceased social grant recipients have been wrongly paid. This happens when a grant beneficiary dies after proof of life is confirmed by the Department of Home Affairs, and when the payment run is released to the beneficiary’s bank account,” Zulu said.
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Zulu said SASSA worked closely with the Department of Home Affairs on deceased data validation and conducted monthly checks to confirm the life status of beneficiaries before a payment was generated.
Slamming the problems at SASSA, DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Social Development Dan Plato said that SASSA is not getting any better, but rather worse at the hands of the ANC national government.
“The Department of Social Development and Sassa are gambling with the livelihoods of social grant beneficiaries and need to maintain the integrity of the payment system.” he said.
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
