The Mpumalanga provincial government has announced the cancellation of all fraudulent R370 Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant payments.

The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) in the province informed all beneficiaries that it is mandated to cancel all fraudulent grant payments while emphasising its commitment to combatting fraud and ensuring that grants are paid to the rightful beneficiaries.

Beneficiaries, whose grants are cancelled due to suspected fraud, are allowed to reapply, Sassa said on Monday.

“Sassa implemented this activity to ensure that the Agency pays social grants to the right people and avoid fraud. The agency is encouraging people to take responsibility to make sure that their identity numbers are not utilised for fraudulent activities. Sassa beneficiaries must ensure that they do not share their identity numbers with strangers to avoid becoming aiding fraudsters,” the department said.

The department noted that it had deployed a team of trained officials assigned to deal with Covid-19 SRD grant cases.

The department said that beneficiaries, who suspect fraudulent activity involving their grants, are encouraged to report it immediately via Sassa's toll-free hotline or WhatsApp service.

“Beneficiaries are encouraged to note that when they check their status and find out that it states “referred” it means that the Sassa system is suspecting fraudulent activity, therefore, the beneficiary must contact Sassa immediately to resolve the case,” it added.

The agency also warned beneficiaries not to keep changing their banking details and contact numbers because those processes delay the payment processes.

Investigations

Last week, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Social Development wanted the investigation into the grant expanded to include all other types of grants.

This happened as Sassa was granted an extension to probe the application and payment of the R350 grants after two Stellenbosch University computer science students conducted a survey and found that there was no authentication on the SRD grant system and that it was too easy to apply for the grant.

“The committee is keenly awaiting the finalisation of the investigation on weaknesses in the SRD grant application and payment system,” committee chairperson Bridget Masango said.

“The investigation should be expanded to the entire system of application and payment of grants,” she said, adding that there have been fraudulent activities that have been prevalent in the social grant system.

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