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Up to R1,8bn in fraudulent grants paid out monthly10 March 2006 Sipho Masondo UP TO HALF of the 10 million social grants being paid out monthly in South Africa may need to be probed for fraud, Special Investigating Unit head Willie Hofmeyr has said. “We probably need to do somewhere between two million and five million investigations if we want to clean up the system,” he told reporters at Parliament yesterday. “One can safely say that billions (of rands) are involved.” The social development department’s own estimate was that about R1,5-billion to R1,8-billion was being paid out unlawfully every month. This translated to about six per cent of beneficiaries, or 600 000, who needed to be removed from the social system, Hofmeyr said. “To find the 600 000 you clearly need to look at a lot more.” His announcement came as the Scorpions arrested six people in connection with social grants fraud during a pre-dawn swoop in Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage yesterday. They were arrested at 2am in their homes in Khayelitsha and Holomisa in Uitenhage and KwaMagxaki in Port Elizabeth. They all appeared in the Uitenhage magistrate’s court and the case was postponed to April 10. Two of the suspects, Khayalethu Gola, 36, and Neville Mabija, 48, are employed as senior administration clerks by the social development department in Uitenhage. They were granted R1 000 bail each. Social security chief director Bandile Maqethuka said: “We have suspended our two employees. We don’t want them to interfere with investigations and witnesses.” Prime Cure Medi-Centre employees Nompumelelo Tshaka, 43, Yoliswa Ralo, 43, and Phumeza Mpushe, 26, were granted bail of R800 each. Senior Special Investigator Mthobeli Gxowa said Zukiswa Matwa, 34, would promise people social grants. She would then take them to her friends Tshaka, Ralo and Mpushe at the centre. The three centre employees would take their particulars and, using HIV-positive blood samples belonging to other people, would ask doctors to recommend that they receive disability grants due of “their” HIV status. Maqethuka said Gola and Mabija processed, approved and prioritised fraudulent social grant applications in return for a certain amount of the proceeds. It was suspected that Tshaka, Ralo, Mpushe and Matwa were part of a new social grants fraud syndicate, he said. “We have identified a new syndicate operating in Uitenhage. Many more arrests are in the pipeline.” The social development department works with the Scorpions in dealing with social grants fraud, and they are identifying all government officials who draw social grants. About 2 000 officials have already been identified as having squandered some R25-million. “We are busy with civil action to recover all that money, but we will also charge them criminally,” Maqethuka said. Identifying doctors who issued fraudulent disability certificates, and individuals and syndicates who operated with government officials and doctors, fell under phase two of the crack-down. Another strategy involved the identification and arrest of people who claimed fraudulent child support grants. Several home affairs officials are being investigated for this kind of fraud. Nationally, the SIU has identified 14 262 public servants over the past nine months who were receiving social grants unlawfully. Additional reporting by Sapa Source: The Herald « back |
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