The Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu recently revealed that more than 74,000 social payments were mistakenly made to mistakenly deceased recipients. It is estimated that this cost the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) more than R140 million.
Grants distributed by Sassa include Older Persons pension grants, Disability grants, War Veterans grants, Care Dependency grants, Foster Child grants, Child Support grants, Child Support grant Top-Up and Grant-in-aid. Zulu’s revelations have raised serious questions about the efficacy of Sassa’s verification systems and its ability to ensure only deserving individuals receive grants.
Sassa spokesperson Paseka Letsatsi says the payment of grants to deceased individuals was not intentional and can be attributed to late reporting of deaths on the part of family members. This challenge is often exacerbated in rural communities where deaths may go unreported.
They explained that SASSA submits payment files on the 22nd and 23rd of each month, and once the file is submitted, funds are transferred to grant beneficiaries' accounts.
This systematic approach aims to determine the vital status of beneficiaries, ensuring that funds are only disbursed to those who are alive. If a beneficiary is found to be deceased, Sassa will deactivate their record before payment extraction, preventing any financial transactions.
However, Sassa may pay deceased grant beneficiaries if they are not notified of the beneficiaries passing.
If a person passes away after this submission but before Sassa verifies with the Department of Home Affairs, the money might already be in the account, making it challenging for Sassa to retrieve.
Letsatsi further addressed concerns about system inefficiencies and an inability to proactively address challenges. They emphasised that it is a complex situation and it is challenging to identify fraudulent activities in beneficiaries' accounts and acknowledged the need to enhance communication and proactiveness.
They explained that in addition to automated gatekeeping mechanisms, Sassa conducts periodic reviews of beneficiary details to confirm the consistency of their circumstances. The current review process involves face-to-face interactions between Sassa staff and beneficiaries.
Letsatsi also revealed their ongoing efforts to finalise a memorandum of understanding with Home Affairs that will give Sassa real-time information and stop the payment of grants to dead people.
Naturally, if a client is deceased, they cannot participate in this crucial review process and their grants will be suspended.
Letsatsi added that it is extremely difficult to retrieve money that has been paid to deceased beneficiaries.
"Unfortunately…you tell me which caring government will go and knock at the door of a dead person and tell the family that we paid you R510 or we pay you R210; this person is deceased, pay back the money immediately. I think that will be uncalled for and uncaring from the South African government."
