In the past three years, the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) paid R140 million to deceased beneficiaries.
This was revealed by Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu in a parliamentary reply.
SASSA claims the problem stems from the late reporting of deaths to the Department of Home Affairs, resulting in money being released prematurely.
Over the past three financial years, SASSA paid R140 million to more than 70,000 deceased recipients.
But SASSA claims this is not their fault, emphasizing it does not amount to corruption.
SASSA extracts beneficiary payment details and compares these details with the Department of Home Affairs on a monthly basis to determine if a recipient is still alive.
SASSA spokesperson, Paseka Letsatsi, said that the issues happen when the family of a deceased recipient are late in reporting the death.
“In an instance that the client is found to be deceased, such a record is deactivated on the system, prior to the extraction of payment. However, in some instances, a beneficiary would pass away after the 23rd of the month, when the money has been paid into the account of a beneficiary.”
SASSA said they had no control over this process as they relied on families to report the deaths of a loved one.
Close to 18 million South Africans rely on monthly SASSA grants.
-EWN
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