grants
27 September 2006
In April 2005, the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) was requested by the
Minister of Social Development, Dr Zola Skweyiya, to investigate fraud and
irregularities in social grants and pensions. The department agreed to fund the
full cost of the SIU investigation in 2007, it will contribute R60 million to
enable the SIU to employ 200 investigators to work on the investigation. About
100 of these have already been employed.
To date, the major focus of the SIU has been to remove an estimated R1,5
billion of the irregular grants from the system. In the past year, 110 000
grants were cancelled though the joint efforts of the SIU and the department.
This will save taxpayers more than R400 million per year. The SIU aims to
cancel another 125 000 grants worth R500 million in the current year. Since the
inception of the investigation we have concentrated on the civil servants
registered on Social Pension System (SOCPEN) and receiving a social grant.
Over the last 12 months, about 44 000 government employees receiving grants
have been investigated, 21 588 have been found to be on the system irregularly
and will be referred to their departments for disciplinary action, 22 117 have
been found to be entitled to a social grant. Approximately, 7 000 are foster
care grants while approximately 15 000 were either temporary workers or stopped
working but remained on persal. Over 15 000 have had their grants cancelled
already, nearly 14 000 of those irregularly receiving a grant are being
considered for prosecution. Over 1 300 criminal investigations were completed.
About 650 government employees have already been convicted. Majority of the
convicted accused have been sentenced to a suspended term of imprisonment.
A number of the accused have also been sentenced to an additional fine. In
most cases the convictions and sentences have been the result of a plea
bargaining arrangement between the state and the accused. These plea bargained
cases are in accordance with prosecution guidelines which have been determined
by the National Prosecution Authority (NPA). In other cases where the accused
have pleaded guilty, the courts have imposed similar sentences. Another 2 000
cases should be brought to court this year.
The SIU has also tried to recover money from those who are able to repay the
irregular grants they received, whether they are government employees or
private citizens. However, this is extremely cumbersome as court litigation is
required to compel a debtor to repay, and they cannot be compelled to pay more
than they can afford. In the meantime, nearly 3 000 people have agreed to start
repaying some of what they owe. The SIU has arranged that this be done through
a salary deduction and/ or a formal acknowledgement of debt that is enforceable
in court should they default.
This is not a settlement of their debt to the state, and the department or
SIU is still able to use normal court processes to recover the full amount
owing, including any interest. From an assessment done by the SIU in April, it
emerged that:
* 65% agreed to pay their debt within three years
* 91% agreed to pay their debt within five years
* 97% agreed to pay their debt within eight years
* 3% agreed to pay their debt over more than eight years.
It is clear that a relatively small group have agreed to repay substantially
less than what they should be able to afford. In these cases, it is
unacceptable that they repay small amounts over long periods despite the fact
that they earn substantial salaries. Thus the SIU has already identified a list
of cases where it intends to take legal action to ensure that proper repayments
are made.
The SIU is already in the process of employing further staff for the
project, and will be able to take action on a larger scale soon. The next phase
of the investigation will focus on private individuals who are receiving a
social grant irregularly. We have compared Social Pension (Socpen) system to a
number of private and public employee databases and found more than 400 000
private individuals who earn above the means test.
These cases are being further investigated. This joint investigation by the
SIU, the department and the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), is on
an unprecedented scale in South Africa. Some 200 staff will work full-time for
several years investigating hundreds of thousands of potential cases, and
taking thousands of cases to court for criminal prosecution.
It is vital that we focus our efforts on those areas where we can make the
greatest impact to ensure that the investigation achieves the goal of saving
taxpayers and government billions of rands over the next few years, and to
ensure that government grants reach those who are most in need.
Enquiries:
Trinesha Naidoo
Special Investigating Unit
Tel: (012) 843 0028
Cell: 084 400 6721
Lakela Kaunda
Department of Social Development
Tel: (012) 312 7653
Cell: 082 782 2575
Issued by: Department of Social Development
27 September 2006
Source: Department of Social Development (http://www.socdev.gov.za/)
