Government employees tried to fleece the R350 grants
ALMOST 37 000 public servants who applied for the R350 Special Relief of Distress (SRD) grants could face the music for allegedly attempting to defraud the state.
They had allegedly applied for the non-income grants despite being employed.
These revelations were made by Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu in her written parliamentary reply to questions posed by DA deputy spokesperson on public service and administration Mimmy Gondwe.
According to Zulu, up to 36 972 state employees had applied for the SRD grants last month alone which prompted Gondwe to ask her ministry to act swiftly.
Gondwe called on the Social Security
Agency of South Africa (Sassa) and the Department of Social Development (DSD) to urgently solicit the assistance of the Department of Public Service and Administration in concluding the investigations into the thousands of employees who had already submitted applications for the SRD.
She said the scope of the investigations should include a probe into the 241 public service employees who received the SRD grant for the month of May last year.
Gondwe called for action after Zulu said no disciplinary or legal action had been instituted against the public servants.
This, she said, was due to the fact that the Sassa-led investigations into their applications were ongoing and had yet to be concluded.
Zulu further disclosed that no legal steps had been taken to recover the grants paid to the 241 public service employees.
“Once investigations are concluded Sassa will recommend to the relevant heads of departments to institute disciplinary action and recover money paid over to individuals,” she said.
She added that Sassa had received numerous complaints from people whose ID numbers were used to apply for the Covid-19 SRD grant without their knowledge.
“Some government employees submitted applications in order to test the system or to assist applicants to apply as all applications were submitted electronically.”
She said the auditor-general flagged 241 government employees who received the SRD grant for May 2020 saying it occurred at the inception phase when Sassa did not have access to all databases.
A total amount of R84 350 was paid to public service employees who applied for the SRD grant for the month of May 2020.
“While the DA welcomes the fact that DSD has since put systems in place to prevent public service employees from fraudulently and/or unlawfully applying for and/or receiving an SRD grant, and that Sassa has implemented a system to ensure that public service employees do not receive the SRD grant … we are concerned that the investigations into the 39 672 implicated public service employees have yet to be concluded.”
The opposition party also said decisive disciplinary and legal action must be taken against the public service employees, pointing out that the SRD grant was intended solely for the most vulnerable and distressed members of society.