Cape Town - Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu has refused to name and shame the more than 3 000 public servants that pocketed social grants while working for the state, and R12.6 million recovered from them.
Zulu said she will make public the list of the implicated officials when she is ordered by the court.
“The agency is not at liberty to disclose the personal information obtained as a result of an application for a social grant unless directed by court orders such or the concerned individual has consented to such,” she said.
Zulu was responding to parliamentary questions from DA MP Mhimhi Gondwe when she asked for the names of the 3 268 public servants who were found to not qualify for the social grants after the review process was concluded.
In April, the Cape Times reported 165 297 public servants were found to have received social grants at July 2021.
This had prompted the department through the Social Security Agency (Sassa) to review the grants, while 98 817 beneficiaries were still to be reviewed.
Zulu was quoted at the time saying a total of 63 212 people were found to qualify for the grants and 3 268 others did not qualify.
She had revealed that 66 480 reviews were conducted on the grants civil servants received and that R12.6 million had been recovered.
At least 11 589 civil servants were found to be receiving child foster grants.
Others were interns and contract workers who received some form of social grants.
Gondwe has now asked when the review of the outstanding 98 817 social grants received by civil servants will be finalised, among other things.
In her written response, Zulu could not say how many of the civil servants that received the social grants were interns and contract workers who could qualify to continue receiving the grants.
“At this stage, Sassa does not have the requested information. It is important to note that eligibility for a grant is not reviewed on the basis of employment, but on income as per the regulations to the Social Assistance Act.”
Zulu said the civil servants, whose employment conditions were suspected to have changed, were given notice in January of the intention to review their social grants.
“According to this notice, beneficiaries were afforded three months to complete this process. Those beneficiaries who did not approach Sassa during the period that ended in April to conduct their review were then issued with an ‘intention to suspend’ notice,” she said.
The notices were issued in May and gave the public servants until the end of July to remedy the situation.
“Failure to respond will result in the suspension of their grant. However, the beneficiary will still have the right to approach Sassa to re-instate their grant within three months after it has been suspended.
“If this is not done, the grant will be permanently terminated,” Zulu said.
The entire process until termination of the social grants is expected to be concluded by October.“
The minister said in terms of the regulations of the Social Assistance Act, Sassa could review a social grant at any time where it has a reason to believe that changes in the beneficiary's financial circumstances may have occurred.
She said in the case where the beneficiary still qualified for the grant after the review process, the beneficiary would continue to receive payment of the grant.
“Where the beneficiary no longer qualifies, the grant is terminated and he/she has the right to appeal to the Independent Tribunal for Social Assistance Appeals.
“In cases where overpayments were made to the beneficiary, an acknowledgement of debt is raised, and/or the matter is referred to the Fraud and Compliance Unit for further investigation,” Zulu said.
Cape Times