In April 2020, the government announced a new social support grant would be introduced to help protect unemployed individuals from the impact of the pandemic.
The Covid-19 lockdowns meant that many people had to remain at home. This made it impossible for unemployed people to look for work. They needed relief and the government introduced the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Grant.
The SRD grant is commonly referred to as the R350 grant, with the payout of the grant ranging from May 2020 to April 2021.
When the application process reopened in August 2021, around 14 million applications were received by the South African Social Security Agency (SAASA).
However, not everybody who received the SRD grant was deserving of the funds. SASSA rejected millions of applications because applicants were found to be employed by the government, registered with the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and beneficiaries of the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).
Auditor General Lourens Van Vuuren says there are currently investigations taking place looking into undeserving SRD grant recipients. These investigations are being done in the hopes that the funds will be recovered.
He said, “There are already investigations done by government employees that have claimed it (SRD grant) and that will most probably be recovered from them should they be found guilty”.
“For the others it all forms part of the material irregularity that we've identified and the accounting authority will have to do an investigation and ultimately determine if there's anyone that should be held liable for any losses in that regard” concluded Van Vuuren.
Sassa spokesperson, Paseka Letsatsi says that people will be prosecuted for grant related fraud. He explained that once a person is identified, their information will be handed over to the South African Police Services (SAPS).
“We can assure you is that if you are found to be in the wrong you will definitely be taken to task and people will face the music but we are paying very serious attention to people who are attempting to defraud the social grant system and will definitely put measures in place to make sure that nobody has and steals money which is meant for the poor” warned Letsatsi.
