Sassa underspent R4bn on grants, says auditor-general

The Social Security Agency of SA (Sassa) is under scrutiny after revelations that it had underspent by R4bn on social relief of distress (SRD) grants during the 2022/23 financial year.

On Wednesday, the auditor-general presented these findings to the portfolio committee on social development in parliament.

Senior audit manager Puleng Molapo said the primary reason for the underspending was a low uptake of the SRD grant because of a new means test implemented by Sassa. “This resulted in Sassa not paying some beneficiaries because they were no longer eligible due to the lower income threshold and bank verification of their income,” Molapo said.

Molapo also spoke about concerns over Sassa’s service delivery and its handling of grant inquiries. He said the agency lacked a robust system to report and track these inquiries, leading to inefficiencies. “Sassa doesn’t have a process to report and track grant inquiries received from the public, with the result that they cannot accurately report resolved and unresolved cases.”

This shortcoming has had a detrimental impact on service delivery and contributed to public dissatisfaction, he said. “If I am a beneficiary and have an inquiry about an issue with my grant, someone should tend to it within 10 days,” Molapo said. He also pointed out that “not everyone has access to a Sassa office”.

The audit report revealed that over the past five years Sassa and the department of social development were implicated in multiple material irregularities. Out of six identified irregularities, five were attributed to Sassa and one to the department.

“Most of the irregularities at Sassa relate to the payment of social grants,” said Molapo.

Specific issues included R74m paid for services not rendered, SRD grant payments to ineligible applicants and overpayments amounting to R316m to Cash Paymaster Services (CPS). CPS is undergoing liquidation, which Molapo said may affect its ability to reimburse the funds.

Molapo also revealed that Sassa had identified and withheld R145m from alleged overpayments of SRD grants. “We found that there were people working for the government who had applied for and received the R350 grants.”

In addition, the audit uncovered that more than R1bn was irregularly spent in the 2021/22 financial year, with R4m written off, R561m condoned and R444m unresolved. (Condoned means the irregular expenditure was examined and subsequently authorised as understandable expenditure.)

Molapo explained that a significant portion of this irregular expenditure was being addressed through condonations and clearances in compliance with the Public Finance Management Act framework.

Paulnita Marais (EFF) said: “Every time it comes to taking accountability, they say ‘I’m just acting’. No-one is taking accountability for what’s happening in Sassa. You can resign and nothing is going to happen to you. They get away with it.

“Our people are suffering. People are sending me messages that their mother’s R370 is being paid to the wrong person. People have been struggling since last year to access their R370. We’ve been complaining to Sassa, but it seems like our complaints go through one ear and out the other.” 

Bridget Masango (DA) described the presentation as “depressing” and emphasised the human impact of financial mismanagement. “At the back of every key unachieved target are starving people and stunted children,” Masango said.

She questioned how R316m could be mismanaged despite existing oversight mechanisms and called for stronger consequence management.

Tshilidzi Munyai (ANC) suggested reopening resolved matters for further investigation. “Clearly there’s corruption in Sassa. There’s no internal control and even if there are controls they are being bypassed,” he said.

Munyai called for an independent review and greater collaboration with law enforcement agencies and the Special Investigating Unit to address the issues.

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