(1) a. The total number of foreigners (refugees) receiving social grants as at July 2021 is 13 472.
(1) b. Table 1 shows the number of social grants by grant type per province.
Table 1: Number of social grants per province
Province |
Care Dependency Grant |
Child Support Grant |
Disability Grant |
Foster Child Grant |
Grant-In-Aid |
Old Age Grant |
War Veterans Grant |
Total |
Eastern Cape |
23,417 |
1,972,830 |
178,386 |
74,893 |
34,024 |
593,929 |
8 |
2,877,487 |
Free State |
8,787 |
711,619 |
78,067 |
24,569 |
10,576 |
212,589 |
|
1,046,207 |
Gauteng |
20,916 |
2,000,812 |
120,845 |
41,371 |
10,424 |
678,524 |
9 |
2,872,901 |
Kwazulu Natal |
39,044 |
2,969,151 |
223,704 |
63,210 |
79,759 |
732,988 |
4 |
4,107,860 |
Limpopo |
16,627 |
1,963,506 |
99,816 |
40,437 |
54,687 |
489,613 |
2 |
2,664,688 |
Mpumalanga |
11,335 |
1,165,489 |
76,726 |
22,693 |
23,237 |
267,023 |
|
1,566,503 |
North West |
9,803 |
903,493 |
64,815 |
26,691 |
17,228 |
277,606 |
1 |
1,299,637 |
Northern Cape |
5,787 |
328,070 |
50,819 |
10,570 |
18,975 |
92,971 |
1 |
507,193 |
Western Cape |
16,280 |
1,052,251 |
150,624 |
32,209 |
24,110 |
379,526 |
9 |
1,655,009 |
Total |
151,996 |
13,067,221 |
1,043,802 |
336,643 |
273,020 |
3,724,769 |
34 |
18,597,485 |
(2) It is important to note that applicants for all social grants, except for the Foster Child Grant are means tested. In addition, SASSA checks all the applicants of social grants against the government payroll databases (Persal and Persol) in order to ensure that government employees do not unduly benefit from social grants. The fact that a government employee is benefitting from a social grant is not necessarily an indicator of fraud, as some of the lower level staff may still meet the means test thresholds.
Access to other databases that have been brought into the SASSA environment will also assist SASSA in further refining the validations processes, to ensure that the information provided by applicants on application is checked before the grant is approved. This will assist in reducing errors of inclusion.
(2) i. The total number of Social Development officials receiving social grants is 3400. Table 2 shows the breakdown by department and grant type.
Table 2: Number of DSD official receiving social grants per province
DEPARTMENT |
Care Dependency Grant |
Com |
Child Support Grant |
Disability Grant |
Foster Child Grant |
Old Age Grant |
TOTAL |
VOTE 04 - EC: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT |
18 |
2 |
103 |
4 |
91 |
|
218 |
VOTE 06 - GP: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT |
6 |
1 |
230 |
7 |
34 |
1 |
279 |
VOTE 07 - FS: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT |
7 |
|
91 |
2 |
31 |
1 |
132 |
VOTE 07 - WC: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT |
9 |
1 |
45 |
4 |
17 |
|
76 |
VOTE 11 - NC: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT |
3 |
|
41 |
1 |
13 |
|
58 |
VOTE 12 - LP: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT |
8 |
|
158 |
6 |
27 |
4 |
203 |
VOTE 12 - MP: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT |
5 |
|
42 |
1 |
31 |
|
79 |
VOTE 12 - NW: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT |
6 |
|
59 |
2 |
30 |
|
97 |
VOTE 13 - KZN: SOCIAL DEVELOPMNT |
51 |
2 |
1876 |
101 |
132 |
79 |
2241 |
VOTE 19 - NAT: SOCIAL DEVELOPMNT |
2 |
|
12 |
1 |
2 |
|
17 |
TOTAL |
115 |
6 |
2657 |
129 |
408 |
85 |
3400 |
(2) ii. Table 3 shows that 153 SASSA employees are receiving social grants as at July 2021.
Table 3: Number of SASSA officials receiving social grants per province
PROVINCE |
CARE DEPENDENCY GRANT |
COM. |
CHILD SUPPORT |
DISABILITY GRANT |
FOSTER CHILD GRANT |
TOTAL |
EASTERN CAPE |
5 |
|
5 |
|
33 |
43 |
FREE STATE |
3 |
|
1 |
|
6 |
10 |
GAUTENG |
3 |
|
2 |
|
5 |
10 |
HEAD OFFICE |
|
|
5 |
|
1 |
6 |
KWAZULU-NATAL |
10 |
|
2 |
1 |
11 |
24 |
LIMPOPO |
6 |
|
4 |
|
3 |
13 |
MPUMALANGA |
3 |
|
1 |
|
9 |
13 |
NORTH WEST |
2 |
|
|
|
7 |
9 |
NORTHERN CAPE |
3 |
4 |
1 |
|
4 |
12 |
WESTERN CAPE |
2 |
|
3 |
1 |
7 |
13 |
TOTAL |
37 |
4 |
24 |
2 |
86 |
153 |
All social grants received by SASSA employees, except for the foster child grant and the combination grants (which is a combination of foster child grants and care dependency grants, in which case both are not means tested) have been suspended with immediate effect in accordance with Regulation 29(1)(a) of the Social Assistance Act, which allows for suspension without prior notice, in cases of suspected fraud or misrepresentation.
Processes are now underway to determine the amount paid which should not have been paid, as well as the date from which these employees started being employed by SASSA, to determine the amount to be recovered. In addition, documents are being prepared for disciplinary processes to be implemented.
As a preventive measure, all Socpen data will be checked against the SASSA salary system on a monthly basis prior to the payment extraction.
(2) ii. Table 4 shows that as at July 2021, 177108 social grants were received by employees of national and provincial government departments.
NATIONAL/PROVINCIAL DEPARTMENT |
Care Dependency Grant |
Com |
Child Support Grant |
Disability Grant |
Foster Child Grant |
Old Age Grant |
TOTAL |
EASTERN CAPE |
413 |
47 |
8570 |
435 |
2063 |
595 |
12123 |
FREE STATE |
116 |
8 |
2916 |
114 |
529 |
144 |
3827 |
GAUTENG |
537 |
15 |
20136 |
460 |
901 |
221 |
22270 |
KWAZULU/NATAL |
1717 |
74 |
61384 |
3321 |
3414 |
8449 |
78359 |
LIMPOPO PROVINCE |
267 |
10 |
8577 |
186 |
826 |
466 |
10332 |
MPUMALANGA |
224 |
4 |
7744 |
302 |
617 |
512 |
9403 |
NATIONAL DEPARTMENTS |
630 |
22 |
10113 |
372 |
1605 |
522 |
13264 |
NON GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS |
|
|
14 |
1 |
2 |
|
17 |
NORTH WEST |
416 |
25 |
17074 |
579 |
846 |
246 |
19186 |
NORTHERN CAPE |
127 |
14 |
3474 |
217 |
313 |
228 |
4373 |
WESTERN CAPE |
192 |
3 |
3079 |
111 |
473 |
96 |
3954 |
TOTAL |
4639 |
222 |
143081 |
6098 |
11589 |
11479 |
177108 |
Table 4: Number of National and Provincial government employees receiving social grants per province