Speaker, the ANC welcomes the arrest of 47 South African Social Security Agency, Sassa, employees and the suspension of others in the recent crackdown on social grant scams. It is disappointing to see that after so much effort put in by the Department of Social Development and government to clamp down on corruption, there are still some employees who have gone so far as to steal social grant machines and use them to manufacture fraudulent cards in their own homes and selling them to the public.
Amongst those arrested recently were elderly persons who collected payouts for nonexistent foster children; disabled people; and Sassa employees, among them a data capturer alleged to have committed 298 acts of fraud.
The ANC is pleased that all those involved have been arrested and suspended and we hope that the law will apply to those found to have wronged the government and legitimate beneficiaries.
Ke a leboga. [Thank you.]