[Read this story carefully. Firstly, they are investigating 37,000 public servants who were taking people’s pensions, etc. I have heard over the years, many stories about Black Govt officials telling old black pensioners that their pensions never arrived – when in fact the Govt officials pocketed the money themselves. Secondly, 30,000 corrupt individuals have already stepped forward to confess. They suspect they stole R1.5 billion… but the full scale of all this corruption needs to be investigated. Jan]

Cape Town – The South African Government is probing 37 000 public servants who are allegedly receiving various forms of grants fraudulently and costing the government “lots of money”, says Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya.

He said this on Tuesday in his Budget vote at parliament. “We are currently working closely with the various law enforcement agencies such as the Special Investigations Unit, the Scorpions and the South African Police Service to investigate fraud and corruption related to public servants and syndicates.”

Skweyiya told a briefing of journalists earlier that the suspected fraud involved about R1.5bn.

Some of the cases may involve teachers and nurses who had retired and believed that they could also receive old age pensions, but this was not the case, he said.

In the meantime, about 30 000 people had come forward to ask for indemnity for receiving social grants fraudulently. The deadline ended last month.

He said, however, that public servants and syndicates would not be granted indemnity – they would be prosecuted.

Just as with those who had applied for indemnity, the state would save about R120m a year, said the minister.

The minister pointed to the problem of having an inadequate computer checking system – the department of home affairs was still attempting to set up the Hanis system after seven years of trying to implement it.

This system should be used to double check identities of those receiving grants – but the system was not functioning.

He said the problem would be tackled by the soon-to-be-established South African Social Security Agency, which would take over the role of paying grants – including old age, disability and child grants – from the various provinces.

Each and every employee would be screened and a chief executive officer would be appointed in due course. He noted that about R70bn a year went to social grant beneficiaries.

Source: News24.Com
URL: http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/New…/p>