The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has sent a stern warning to its officials involved in fraudulent activities, that action will be taken against them.
This follows the arrest of three officials at its Johannesburg Local Office for suspected fraudulent activities on Friday.
“Two males and one female were apprehended by the South African Police Service (SAPS) as the office was about to start with its operation following a tip off.
SASSA is working closely with SAPS and more arrests are expected.
This is part of on-going work by the agency directed by the Minister of Social Development, Nokuzola Tolashe to clamp down on fraud and corrupt activities in all SASSA offices across the country,” read a statement from the agency.
Today’s arrests follow a similar one at its Idutywa office in Eastern Cape recently.
“SASSA will not rest until all the bad apples currently in the system are cleansed to ensure an efficient and dignified organization that will serve its beneficiaries with integrity.
In addition, SASSA appeals and encourages members of the public to work together with the agency and report grant fraud or corruption,” added the statement.
Meanwhile, Gauteng police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Mavela Masondo said the officials’ arrests comes after a tip-off about two women who were withdrawing large amounts of cash using several SASSA cards at a Shoprite in Dlamini, Soweto.
“In February we arrested four suspects in Dlamini, two females and two males and one of the males is an Ethiopian national.
We continued with our investigations, which revealed that they’re working with SASSA officials in Johannesburg Central.
We are looking for seven of them, who are working with the ones we arrested in February.
Today, we only found three, so we still have another four that we’re looking for.
Unfortunately, we are told they are on leave today,” explained Masondo.
Furthermore, Masondo said the police believe that the officials arrested on Friday are part of a bigger syndicate, which includes more than 11 people.
He said one of the suspects is a manager at the Johannesburg Central office, while another one is in Cape Town.
Police said they expect to make more arrests in the matter.
