Social grant fraud 66% of graft
Social grant fraud has been most reported between the financial years 2017-18 and 2020-21, according to the Public Service Commission’s (PSC) quarterly bulletin.
Of the 3 653 cases of alleged corruption between the 2017-18 and 2020-21 financial years, grant fraud was the highest, with 2 400 (66%) cases.
According to the bulletin, in September 2004, Cabinet mandated the PSC to manage the new National Anticorruption Hotline, which was an amalgamation of anticorruption hotlines managed by different departments.
The bulletin outlined that the National Anticorruption Hotline had also become one of the most useful instruments for reporting complaints during Covid-19 lockdown in the country.
It had provided tip-offs to Sassa for complaints about food parcels, fraudulent use of grant cards and the R350 social relief grant.
“The majority of social grant fraud cases involve pension, disability and child support grants, committed by members of the public and officials.
“The consequences in the occurrences of social grant fraud are twofold. Not only is there a financial implication when a loss occurs, but the actual beneficiary suffers. Therefore, Sassa must strengthen its internal controls in the management of social grants,” the PSC said in the bulletin.
It also reported that the second highest number of cases reported were of unethical behaviour, totalling 377 (10.3%) during the 2017-18 to 2020-21 financial years. Of the 377 cases, 255 were recorded during 2019-20 and 62 in 2018-19.
Cases of other misconduct included officials requesting bribes from the public and offering them jobs, officials not reporting to work or arriving late without permission and officials going on leave without submitting the relevant forms.
“The appointment irregularities account for 316 (9%) of the matters reported through the hotline in the 2017-2018 to 2020-2021 financial years. Of the 316 cases, the highest number of 185 cases were recorded in the 2019-2020 financial year compared to 100 cases recorded in the 2018-2019 financial year.”
The PSC also noted that most irregular appointment cases reported through the hotline involved senior managers. It also outlined that service delivery-related complaints accounted for 295 (7%) of the matters reported via the hotline between the 2017-18 to 2020-21 financial years. Of the 295 cases, 211 were during 2019-20.
The PSC said complaints reported varied from poor service delivery regarding communication to complaints against police officers. It added that procurement irregularities also accounted for a large proportion of reported cases of alleged corruption in the 2017-18 and 2020-21 financial years with 165 (5%) cases.
The PSC said it had dealt with 106 complaints for the period of 1 April to 30 June this year. Forty of those were received directly from the hotline system and 66 from other methods of reporting.
“Despite challenges encountered due to the pandemic, as at 30 June, 19 (18%) of the 106 complaints were finalised and 87 (82%) were in progress.
“The number of complaints dealt with in the first quarter of the 2020-21 financial year is less than those dealt with in the same period of the 201819 and 2019-2020 financial years.”