Madam Deputy Speaker, I present this report on behalf of my colleague hon Mike Waters.
As of 1 April 2006, the SA Social Security Agency, Sassa, began to take over responsibility for paying social assistance grants in three provinces, namely Gauteng, the Western Cape and the Northern Cape. The target date of March 2007 was given, by which the Sassa would be managing grant payments for the remaining six provinces. I am glad to say that this target has been met and that Sassa has already taken over full responsibility for grant administration in all nine provinces. Sassa also needs to be credited for the fact that, throughout the transfer period, service delivery was never negatively affected and beneficiaries continued to receive their grants.
When one thinks that we have over 11 million beneficiaries, this is no small feat. One issue that did concern my colleague Mike Waters, however, was the fact that more than 6 000 grant administration staff members from national and provincial departments of Social Development were transferred to Sassa without the vast majority being vetted. This did raise concerns during the trip as this makes Sassa vulnerable to the same grant fraud that took place in the provinces previously, because corrupt officials may have been transferred to the new agency.
On a positive note, the committee was fortunate enough to visit a pilot project in the Eastern Cape where the processing time for grant applications is between one and three days, unlike the current 90 days it takes in some provinces and longer in others. This is extremely encouraging as it is giving effect to the Batho Pele principle in making people feel that they are actually valued. Sassa has a huge mountain to climb and the initial results indicate they are doing it at record speed. We can only wish them well and we know they will succeed. Thank you. [Applause.]